The Law of Contract Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Law of Contract Assignment - Essay Example The legal issues to be addressed are, whether the shop can rely on the exclusion clause and whether Laura has any remedy to recover the damages for the loss caused to her due to the fire in her hairdressing salon from Electro Mart. Laura has to establish that the shop owner cannot rely on the exemption clause in the standard terms of the contract. An exemption clause in a contract purports to exclude liability of one of the parties to the contract, under certain circumstances. The Statute sets out that no contract term can exclude or limit liability in any way for negligently causing death or injury1. Furthermore, if there is other loss or damage, liability for negligence cannot be excluded or restricted if the term of notice is unreasonable. Finally, if a contract term or notice makes efforts to exclude or restrict liability for negligence, agreement to or awareness of this is not of itself to be taken as indicative of the voluntary acceptance of any risk2. Laura was misled by the s hop assistant in respect of the usage of the stereo with the small capacity speakers at her salon. ... n clauses may be particularly harmful in consumer contracts, where the disequilibrium between the bargaining positions of the parties may be substantial."3This constitutes the reason for the existence of statutory controls on exclusion clauses, like the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (UCTA) and the Unfair Terms of the Consumer Contract Regulations 1999 (UTCCR). The UCTA applies to the contract for the purchase of the stereo by virtue of section 1(3) which states that the Act applies to business liability which is defined as "liability for breach of obligations or duties arising from things done or to be done in the course of a business". The contract entered by Laura is included by virtue of section 3 which covers consumer contracts and section 12 which states that a person deals as a consumer if she neither makes the contract in the course of a business nor holds herself out as doing so and the shop owner makes the contract in the course of business. It is essential to establish that Laura is a consumer. Laura had purchased the Stereo for use at her flat and also at her Hairdressing Salon; also she does not purchase and sell Stereos. This is borne out by the case of R&B Customs Brokers Co Ltd v United Dominion Trust Ltd, in which the contract excluded liability for breach of certain statutory implied terms and the exclusion clause, was subject to section 6 of the UCTA. The Court of Appeal held that the purchase of the car was only incidental to the company's business activity, which meant that the purchase was not made in the course of business and so the plaintiff company was dealing as a consumer. Thus the defendant could not exclude liability for the breach of implied terms4. Reasonableness in respect of contract terms is clarified in section 11, which states

Market analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Market analysis - Essay Example In general, soft drinks manufacturers have adapted to the new ways of living by responding to the demand for healthier products. This has helped add value to their products and generate growth. In 2004, total consumption of fruit/ vegetable juice increased by 7% and by 2009, the overall market conditions are projected to remain highly favourable for the fruit/ vegetable juice sector. 100% juice is expected reach volume growth of 43% and volume sales of 221 million litres or 384 million euros by 2009. (Euromonitor 2005) This supports the entry of Fruitness into the growing juice sector. Major players in the industry such as Coca-Cola, Spadel, Sunco (bottler and distributor of PepsiCo), Danone, Unilever, Nestle, Materne-Confilux, Wesergold, Melitta (Granini) and Looza (Tropicana) have manufacturing plants and distribution networks all over UK. As Fruitness will target companies in London only, our manufacturing facility will be located in or in close proximity to London. While the sector shows positive growth for the next three years, juice and nectar producers are already looking for new ways of keeping sales growing. As such, product innovation as well as packaging and pack sizes are very important in the juice/ vegetable juice industry. Orange is the most popular flavour with 17% share of the sector volume sales, grapefruit is second with 11% and tomato is third with 9%. As orange is still the leader, Fruitness is focusing on pure orange and orange based juices. Once established, Fruitness will invest in additional equipment in order to expand its existing product range and cater for customer's growing interest in other flavours. 100% juices dominate fruit/ vegetable juice products and the leading performance among the fruit/ vegetable juice sector is taken by 100% juice. The popularity of this subsector is due to the increasingly active and sporty British consumer lifestyle and interest in healthier diet. Nectars and juice drinks are less popular among the British consumers. Promotional activities and the presentation of a variety of fresh 100% juices by companies such as Looza and Melitta, have created a significant consumer awareness of the health benefits of these products and as a result, there have subsequently been consumer shifts towards these. In addition, there has been a slight shift from long-life products to chilled/ short-life products in 2003 and 2004. Industry sources also expect stronger forecast period growth for chilled/ short-life products due to the fact that the majority of British consumers are against concentrates and prefer more natural, fresh products. To summarize, the main trends in the juice industry are differentiation including the incorporation of new flavours, new packaging formats and more targeted marketing as well as the reduction in calories and sugar and inclusion of vitamins C, E, minerals, selenium and phytosterols. In addition carbonated beverage manufacturers have already started to develop healthier products, such as juice with calcium, especially for women, and