Organisations Law

Assignment One Question

Maximum 1500 words

Worth 20 marks (20% of the final grade)

Students will be required to conduct research, to understand and analyse the law and to structure an argument in relation to a particular aspect of the law. Students should keep a copy of any assignment they submit for marking.

Lecturer/tutor will return marked assignment with written comments included. Marked assignments will be returned within 3 weeks of submission.

Marking guide:

Topic:

Ben, Jenny and Sue operate a creative writing and music festival in Western Victoria each year. The festival is held on the last weekend in November.

Together, they own a business name ‘CreativFun’.

The unique aspect of the festival is that all attendees are invited to bring along their own writing, music and other creative products to show others.

Generally, about 5,000 people attend the festival over the two days. The organisers make money from entrance fees, sponsorships, childcare, carparking and the sale of food and drinks.

The entrance fees and sponsorship money are used to pay the costs associated with running the festival with any amount left over split equally between Ben, Jenny and Sue. The organisers have never discussed how losses would be dealt with as, in the five years that the festival has run, it has never made a loss.

Jenny organises all the food and drinks outlets at the Festival and she keeps all the net proceeds from these outlets.

Sue arranges children friendly activities and childcare at the Festival and she keeps the net proceeds from these activities.

Ben runs the car park next to the venue and he keeps the net proceeds from the car park.

All equipment used in the Festival, including the tents and stalls are leased for the weekend and returned.

Casual workers are employed as needed to set up and take down the different parts of the Festival venue, but these are treated as independent contractors and are paid a fixed amount.

Generally, Ben, Jenny and Sue plan the festival together and make all the major decisions unanimously.

• Are Ben, Jenny and Sue in a partnership? What factors led you to draw that conclusion? What additional information would assist you to determine whether it is a partnership?
• In preparation for this year’s Festival, Ben has signed a contract to hire famous and successful author, PK Bowling to attend the Festival. Ben has not consulted with Jenny and Sue about this decision. This is a risky decision, given the large fee that Bowling will receive under the contract and it is not clear if the attendance and entrance fee revenue will cover this cost. Assume Ben, Jenny and Sue are in a partnership, will the partnership be bound by the contract?

RESOURCES: Pamela Hanrahan, Ian Ramsay and Geof Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law, (Wolters Kluwer CCH, 17^th edition, 2016). ISBN 9780190304362.