introduction to contract law
PART A: coursework of a maximum of 3,500 words (75% of the module grade)
Seaside Events is an events business run by Rahul in Brighton. Nuptials Nibbles is a local catering company run by Sarah.
Sarah receives a telephone call from Rahul on Monday, when he says, “I am interested in Nuptials Nibbles catering for a
wedding for the Mayor’s daughter we are putting on in two weeks’ time at our Seaside Towers Hotel. How much would you
charge per head?” He is anticipating 100 guests.
Sarah responds that she is already contracted to do a wedding that day with a local builder named Jenny South, but that if
the price is right she may be prepared to abandon that contract and do the Mayor’s daughter’s wedding instead. “But it
would cost you at least £50 per head,” she says to Rahul, knowing that Jenny was only going to pay £25 per head for 100
guests. Rahul responds that this is more than he was thinking of paying, but that, “If you promise to make all of the food
yourself, make sure that there are ample vegetarian canapés as well as meat dishes, and serve each course promptly within
a two-hour window” he will meet this price. “You’re on,” Sarah says, continuing – “And don’t worry darling. It’ll all have my
personal touch with quick service and plenty of choices for the ‘fid fads’”. Sarah has a habit of using this term to refer to
anybody with particular dietary requirements. “It’ll be the best wedding food any of them have ever tasted!” she concludes
before hanging up the phone.
Sarah does cancel Jenny’s contract and caters for Rahul’s event instead, leaving Jenny very angry and upset when the
alternative caterer she is forced to engage serves almost inedible food and ruins her wedding.
The event is, in Rahul’s words, “a total disaster”. First, he complains that there were hardly any vegetarian canapés, with
“Over 90% of them meat”. So much so that he says he was forced to go out to Waitrose during the first hour of the event to
buy some vegetarian canapés to supplement what Sarah had provided: this cost him £500. Secondly, he is furious that,
although the first course was served within ten minutes of the guests sitting down, the next course took over an hour and a
half to arrive, with dessert then served almost immediately after the second course had been consumed. He also suspects
that Sarah did not make all of the food herself, since, “With your reputation, you can’t have been responsible for that awful
mush!”
Sarah responds angrily to all of these allegations, pointing out that she oversaw all food preparation, the food was served
within two-hours and that in her opinion, “Ten percent of that veggie muck is more than ample”.
Rahul feels that he has been misled and that Sarah has failed to deliver her side of the bargain. The Mayor has also refused
to pay Rahul £10,000 of the £20,000 agreed price, citing the delay, the preponderance of meat in the canapés and the fact
that it felt like, “mass-produced garbage”.
Rahul is also furious because his venue Seaside Towers burnt down the day after the Mayor’s daughter’s wedding so he
could not host the local Rotary Club’s annual dinner dance. The Rotary Club is threatening legal action for breach of
contract. Rahul thinks this is unfair. “How could I hold the dance in a hall that wasn’t there?” he complained in a subsequent
email to the Rotary Club secretary, Neville Rayner. Neville in turn wrote back to point out that they would have been quite
happy to have relocated to Seaside Events’ sister hotel, Pier Oh, but that Rahul refused to accommodate this. Rahul bitterly
resents this, and pointed out to Neville in correspondence that Pier Oh was already booked out to the local bingo club,
which could not be moved.
(1) Advise all parties on any potential claims and liabilities which could arise from the above facts.
(2) Draw up a brief contract which would have encapsulated the terms orally agreed by Rahul and Sarah for the
catering of the Mayor’s daughter’s wedding.
