Reference no: EM131081586 , Length:

Carrie likes to do all her shopping online. She receives a weekly email from Eziebuy Ltd advertising its latest specials. She likes the Eziebuy company because it sells Australian products. The following statement from the company appears in the emails sent to Carrie by Eziebuy each week:

"We sell only Australian products. Think globally but buy locally! You will be getting the best deals and supporting the Australian economy."
Last Christmas, Carrie was most excited by the catalogue and amazed with the range of items for sale. She bought lots of presents for her family and friends but has been disappointed with the following:

a) Carrie bought an electric blanket for her parents for $150.00. Some fifteen minutes after her father plugged the blanket in and turned it on he smelt something burning. He discovered that the heating element in the blanket was faulty and had burnt through to the sheets and covers on the bed.

b) Carrie wanted to buy her brother David a razor that he could easily use on his business trips. She rang the Eziebuy sales line and asked the salesperson if the razor advertised could be used with batteries. The salesperson assured Carrie that the razor could be operated by batteries or via mains electricity supply. Carries purchased the razor for $59.95. David discovered that it would not take batteries.

c) Carrie ordered some wool for her Aunt Ellen. Ellen is a keen knitter and currently has a passion for alpaca. Carrie ordered twelve balls at $8.50 each. The wool was advertised as alpaca on the internet but Aunt Ellen immediately recognised it as angora and not alpaca.

On closer examination of her purchases, Carries found that the electric blanket was made in Korea, the razor was made in China and the wool was manufactured in India. She is not happy because the company advertised its products as Australian products. She doesn't believe that she got the ‘best deal' or that her purchases are supporting the Australian economy.

When Carrie contacted the Eziebuy sales staff by ‘phone after Christmas to complain, she was referred to the buying cart of the Eziebuy website on which appeared the following:

‘Eziebuy Ltd offers no exchange or replacement for items purchased through this catalogue.'

When asked about the products being made overseas the salesperson said: "Oh well, they are mostly packaged or repackaged here and that gives us jobs."

You are asked to advise Carrie as to any action she could take against Eziebuy. Your discussion should be limited to a consideration of the Australian Consumer Law.

ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES

The following guidelines are based on a review of common errors made in Business Law and Ethics assignments. Students are asked to read these guidelines carefully as they will be taken into account in marking your papers. Students are also referred to guides to Harvard style referencing available from the bookshop and Student Services.

The information to follow is presented under the headings of:
- Content and analysis
- Structure and style.

CONTENT AND ANALYSIS
Generally the content (or coverage of the topic) is assessed according to two main requirements. These are:

- Demonstration of a knowledge of the law, assessed according to accurate statement of legal principles
- Demonstration of an understanding of the law, assessed according to logical and coherent application of legal principles to the facts.

The following guidelines stem from the requirements stated above:

- It is not enough to discuss the facts in a general way without reference to legal principle/s.
- It is not enough to state relevant legal principles without explicitly applying those principles to the facts.
- Statements of legal requirements/ principles must be accurate. Use of your own words is encouraged but must convey the substance (meaning of) the legal principle/s.
- Merely reproducing the facts given in the problem will not attract marks. This problem commonly occurs in written introductions, where it would appear that the writer is not sure where to start.
- Answers should include an introduction, analysis and conclusion (but not include these headings as such).
- The introduction should contain statements of:
- The legal terms given to the relevant parties on the facts
- The nature of the action to be taken by the party advised
- The party who must prove the action (burden of proof)
- The relevant standard of proof
- The elements of the action requiring proof.
- The analysis should state:
- The elements requiring proof (from the legislation) and interpretation of those elements (from legislation and case authorities as appropriate)
- An application of the legal requirements (elements) and their interpretation to the facts in question
- A consideration of legal remedies available to the injured party should the action be proven.
- The conclusion should contain:
- A summary of previous discussion and conclusion as to the likelihood of proof of the action. No new material should be included in this part of an answer.
- Accurate and full reference to cases and legislation must be used (see further below).

STRUCTURE AND STYLE

The following guidelines reflect the requirements of formal academic writing generally and those more specifically relevant to law.

- Executive summaries should NOT be included.
- Headings may be used.
- Headings using ‘Introduction', ‘Analysis', and ‘Conclusion' should NOT be used.
- Headings should reflect the legal issues raised by the problem.
- Avoid abbreviations- eg use ‘has not' instead of ‘hasn't'.
- Avoid informal language- eg use ‘Therefore..' instead of ‘So..' or ‘Well..'.
- Avoid use of emotive language- eg use ‘I argue.., "I would argue..', ‘I assert.., or ‘I contend..' instead of ‘I believe..', ‘I feel..' or even ‘I think..'.
- Be mindful that legal analysis is about logical argument based on principles as applied to the facts and not about personal responses- emotional or value-laden.
- Avoid use of ‘slang' (or poor grammar generally)- eg use ‘should have' instead of ‘should of'.
- An opinion may be stated but must be based upon an application of legal principle to the facts.
- Check spelling and grammar; use the spell and grammar checks available on computer.
- Full sentences, containing a subject, verb and object must be used.
- When beginning a sentence with a reference to a section of legislation use ‘Section.."
- When referring to a section of legislation mid-sentence use ‘s....'.
- When referring to a court's finding or judgement use, for example, ‘It was held in that case that..' or ‘The court held that..'(Note third person and past tense used).
- When first referred to in a sentence cite legislation in full, and the full name of cases plus the year of reporting.. For example;
- It was found in Smith v Jones (1986) 5 CLR 98 that..
- Section 67 of the Town Planning Act 1987 (Cth) requires that...
- Subsequent references may be summarised or truncated to, for example;
- In Smith's Case...
- The Town Planning Act...; or
- The Act...
- Care should be taken in the use of quotations and reproduction of sections of legislation.
- Generally a quotation should only be used when the author conveys her own very specific idea that you are referencing, or when the author conveys an idea in a manner that is convincing and that you can not adequately paraphrase.
- Reproduction of provisions of legislation should be limited to very brief sections or parts of sections.
- Case citations should include the name of the case and the year it is reported in brackets in the body of the text (consistent with Harvard referencing style). Full citations with the name of the case, year reported and law report series (with volume and page number) should be listed at the end of your work in a list of references.
- References to legislation must be fully given in the text and repeated in the list of references at the end.
- Accurate, complete references to cases and legislation must be given (and may be found in your text).
- References to either legislation or cases must NOT contain spelling errors.
- Case names and legislation should be presented in italics or underlined.
- Appropriate margins should be provided on each page.
- An assignment cover page should be attached to your work.
- The name of your tutor and the day and time of your tutorial MUST appear on the assignment cover page.
- A copy of your paper should be retained for your reference.
- Use Times New Roman 12 font and 1.5 line spacing.

Describe and apply the elements of Consumer Law and discuss the implications of Consumer Law to a given problem situation

Requires:
- Accurate and clear statements, and discussion, of relevant legal issues, elements and principles

Demonstrate skills of communication relevant to critical thinking and legal analysis

Requires:

- Explicit application of legal principles to the facts and logical/coherent development of arguments
- A valid conclusion which contains accurate discussion of possible remedies
- Use of structure, style which reflect the requirements for academic writing
- Use of relevant and accurate legal referencing

WORD LIMIT: 1500 words