You are the Director of Legal at Dog World Ltd, a company which sells dog-related products such as collars, leads, harnesses and feeding bowls. Dog World Ltd is a large company which has been trading for over twenty years and supplies customers all over the world. You have recently received an email (below) from Jack Swift, who is the Director of Procurement at your firm. You’ll see that Jack is concerned about a couple of issues which he wants your advice on.
EMAIL:
From: Jack Swift
Sent: Monday, May 1, 2024 10:04:42 AM
To: Legal Team
Subject: Queries [confidential]
Dear Director of Legal,
I have two issues which I need some legal advice on please.
• Firstly, we have just had a delivery of 2,000 dog collars from Crazy Collarz Limited, a designer dog collar manufacturer who we regularly order from. When I saw the quantity of collars in the delivery I was shocked – the order was placed by our usual agent, Barclay Hill, but we have told Barclay that the maximum order quantity he’s authorised to make for any product on behalf of the company is 1,000, which has been exceeded in this order. I am sure that Crazy Collarz Limited know about Barclay’s limit of 1,000 collars per order so why did they allow him to order double that amount? We will have trouble paying the invoice if we don’t return these items – are we allowed to do that?
• Secondly, we ordered a consignment of dog harnesses two weeks ago, which was due to be delivered yesterday. However, we’ve just been informed that the harnesses have been stolen from the delivery lorry, which was attacked overnight whilst the driver slept for a few hours in his cab. I have been told that the delivery lorry is part of a national chain of carriers and is not linked in any way to the supplier’s business. The supplier of the harnesses, a company called Dog Delights Limited, is insisting that we still pay for the stolen harnesses, but as we never received them, surely that can’t be right? Please advise as Dog Delights Limited are starting to get nasty and are threatening legal action if we don’t pay for the harnesses immediately.
Kind regards,
Jack
Jack Swift
Director of Procurement
Dog World Limited
You are asked to present your analysis of the case to the rest of the Board via a presentation. In your presentation you should:
• Provide an overview of the facts of the case.
• With reference to relevant legal authority, explain (with reasons):
o whether Dog World Ltd can be forced to pay for the 2,000 dog collars ordered by its agent.
o whether Dog World is liable to pay for the dog harnesses ordered from Dog Delights Limited, which it has never received.
• You should identify clearly the parties to the dispute in each of the above issues and indicate prospects of success in any legal action.
• Draw your presentation together with a conclusion/next steps.
