LAWS6034 Advanced Corporate Governance

Knowles paid Meyer’s salary to the date of his injury and refused to pay any additional sum.  Meyer brought an action for damages claiming $5000 representing his salary for the remaining 15 weeks of the season; $500 for the cost of the artificial eye and general damages as compensation for the loss of his eye.

Q1.  What are the legal issues involved in this case?

Q2.  What arguments would each side make in this case?

Cite any relevant cases.

Q3.  What do you believe the courts would decide?  Explain your answer.

Q4.  What are some lessons business professionals can learn from this case?

Marks will be assigned to writing style, format, title page and references.

Answer:

Answer 1

The legal issue is whether Meyer’s can demand $5000 as salary and $500 for the damages suffered by him from Knowles?

Answer 2

Meyer can argue that Knowles orally agreed to give him insurance claim in case he suffered a disability. Moreover, he is liable to get his salary for the remaining 15 weeks as per the contract.

Knowles will make the arguments that the contract did not contain any terms regarding insurance claim for disability, therefore, oral agreement can be set aside by the Parol Evidence Rule (PER). In Goss v Lord Nugent [1833] 5 B & AD 58 case, the court held that this rule provides that oral discussion between parties which did not become the part of the contract are not enforceable, and they can be set aside (McColl, 2017). A similar judgment was given in De Lassalle v Guildford [1901] 2 KB 2015 case as well (Honeyball, 2015). Moreover, Knowles can argue that Meyer did not play for the remaining 15 weeks; thus, he cannot claim the salary for the same.

Answer 3

The court is likely to provide its judgment based on PER under which Meyer cannot claim $500 from Knowles since it was not a part of the contract. However, it is likely that the court will provide Meyer the remaining salary for 15 weeks as per his contract with Knowles because it was a part of the contract.

Answer 4

The key lesson is that business professionals should not rely on oral agreements, and they should clearly check whether all the terms are included in the contract before signing the same.

References

Honeyball, S. (2015). Great Debates in Employment Law. London: Macmillan International Higher Education.

McColl, R. (2017). Words, words, words! what did you mean? contractual interpretation and the reasonable business person. Commercial Law Quarterly: The Journal of the Commercial Law Association of Australia, 31(3), 17.