Patricia has been at a party. She has been drinking heavily and cannot walk properly. She walks home and crosses the road without looking for traffic. Mark is driving his car down the road, he does not see Patricia because he is changing a CD in his car. He hits her and injures her, breaking her leg. Because of the delay caused by the traffic accident, another driver, Guillermo, is stuck in traffic. He is an electrician and because he cannot get to his next repair job of fixing the refrigerators in Lola's restaurant, Lola has to destroy $ 5 000 worth of meat which goes bad. Advise what legal liabilities arise out of this situation. Cite case authority where relevant.
Richard L Baum who runs a company called Aquavirius Maggots Electronics Ltd asks you for advice as to whether he has any contractual liability arising out of these two separate sets of circumstances:
On 20 September, Richard meets Mat over lunch. Mat owns a shop called 'Mat's LaptopSolutions' . Richard tells Mat that he has just received a consignment of laptops and asks Mat if he would be interested in buying any. Mat says "Send me some details this afternoon". Richard sends aletter to Mat in which he writes: "I offer to sell you 500 laptops at $ 450 each, with delivery on 10 October". Mat puts a reply in the mail on 25 September which says "I accept your offer". On 27 September, Bob telephones Mat and says "Look, I've decided to sell the laptops to my cousin. You have had long enough to think about this contract, and since I haven't heard from you, I am revoking my offer." Mat's letter reaches Bob on 29 September.
Richard is thinking of putting in a new airconditioning unit in his factory. He has been in negotiations with Cool It Aircon Ltd, owend by Siobah. One Monday morning he comes into his office and sees the latest draft contract from Cool It Aircon, with details of specifications of the airconditioners, price and installation date. The top sheet of the contract contains a space which says "I agree to these terms of supply" and with a space for a signature and date. Richard sets the contract aside on his desk, and it soon gets mixed up with piles of other paperwork. Later during the day, he signs the form, thinking that it was the front page of another contract he had been sent by a supplier of microchips. He gives it to his office manager, Pedro, and says "Send this by fax". A few days later a truck from Cool It Airon arrives at Richard's factory. Richard phones up Siobah and says he never agreed to the installation. When Siobah tells him about the fax, he realizes his mistake and tells her that he had sent it by accident. She says "Too bad, we have a deal - I have already spent several thousand dollars making customized components for your system".