Maguire is approached by Bradley Newman AC, a friend of Maguire’s father,
but also a big-time TV celebrity and former AFL mega-star. He asks Maguire
to work with him on starting the International Footy League (IFL) at the MCG,
involving top Australian rules football teams from Australia, Ireland, South
Africa, England, Mexico and Kazakhstan.
Newman explains that he has already secured the backing of key partners,
such as the Essendon FC, Dublin Lions FC, Manchester Utd Footy Club, and
the Borat Footy Club from Astana. They went to the stadium and Newman
asks Maguire if he would be able to handle a project running a venue like the
MCG. Maguire says:
‘Of course, I can do that. I am the best events manager in Victoria,
everyone will be taken care of, drinks, food and all.’
Newman says in reply:
‘Love your attitude Patty, stay with me I will make sure that you learn
all about this business and it’ll set you up for the future.’
They later go to the nearby law firm which Maguire generally uses to prepare
contracts with his clients. The principal lawyer, Quick Buck QC, is busy and
just prints out a short, 4 page standard-form event management contract,
which he always uses for Maguire based on his previous instructions.
Clause 4 of the contract states: ‘The events manager will be responsible for
the management of and catering for …….’ He just adds the words ‘IFL league
event at the MCG.’
The contract also has a clause printed in size 6 font on the bottom of the
second last page which reads as follows: ‘Clause 21 - Liability. The events
manager is not liable for any loss caused to any party during the performance
of the contract.’
They also agreed that Newman will pay Maguire a deposit of $500,000
upfront and another $500,000 following the conclusion of the first season,
which would initially consist of only 2 rounds of matches, as a test run.
Newman didn’t read the contract, other than the last page which had the
payment terms, so he signed it. There was an asterisk placed next to his
signature on the dotted line, followed by a statement on the bottom of the
page, as follows:
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‘*This contract contains the agreement between the parties. By signing this
agreement, the parties agree to all the terms in this agreement.’
Newman pays Maguire $500,000 via cheque on the spot and Maguire
purchases some event safety equipment, TV camera cranes and plenty of
catering supplies for the first match, consisting of soft drinks, mixed nuts and
pre-packaged chips varieties. The contract didn’t specify anything about
security staff, alcohol and pies, but clause 19 provided that ‘the events
manager will utilise his best endeavours to fulfil his duties under the contract.’
There was some money left over and Maguire also purchases a 6 series
BMW for himself and has ‘MCG Events’ printed over it. He normally rides a
pushbike to his office, or uses his girlfriend’s car with L-Plates when she is
available to supervise him. He reckons that he will be taken more seriously if
he had a ‘beamer’ parked outside to impress clients.
In the first round matches (Dublin Lions v Borat FC) there was a sell-out
crowd and the drinks and chips ran out shortly after the half-time. Newman
was heckled by some fans in the VIP area of the stadium who recognised him
from TV and were saying: ‘mate, where are the beer and pies? This is not one
of your TV soapies.’
Newman was concerned about this and spoke to Maguire, who told him beer
was not specified in the contract and, in any event, he was concerned about
the safety aspect if many people got drunk. Newman then told Maguire,
‘Patty, this is a big ticket footy event, everyone in this State knows that footy
events are enjoyed over beer and pies, that just goes without saying. There’s
never been a footy match without beer in living memory, this is not your
Bronte Beach’ (Maguire was born and raised in the Sydney suburb of Bronte
where Australian rules football is not as popular as other football codes).
Maguire apologised and said this will be sorted out before the next round and
apologised for running out of soft drinks and chips. Maguire says: ‘Newy, I
assure you we have catered for the full venue, but the suppliers must have
delivered less. I will throw in freebies in the next round. This won’t happen
again, I promise.’
From the remaining funds, Maguire wants to order a large supply of beer for
the next round and tells Newman: ‘I’ll order the beer, but hopefully there won't
be an issue as I don’t have a liquor licence’. Newman tells him not to worry
about that minor detail, and that the main thing is that people are happy.
In the next round, the visiting fans from Manchester Utd Footy Club started
throwing flares on Essendon FC supporters and knocked down one TV crane,
as their team was getting ‘thrashed’ by the Bombers (the score was 110 – 44
points at . time).
Maguire only had 50 security guards stationed at the venue, so they could not
contain the visiting fans, which included some notorious hooligans from the
English Premier League that were not stopped at the gates by the security.
Newman could forgive Maguire the incident with the drinks, but his profits
depended on advertising revenue from TV coverage of the event, and the loss
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of a TV crane was the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back.’ He said to Maguire:
“I’m done with this, this is a joke. You’re fired, your contract is over”.
The game was disrupted for 30 minutes but was resumed with just one TV
camera being in operation for the remaining 10 minutes of the final quarter.
* * * *
Identify and analyse the contractual issues arising from the hypothetical
problem. In doing so, you should express a view as to the relative
strength of the parties’ positions, and their prospects of success if the
dispute were to be litigated.
Note - You should not take sides, but analyse all of the issues involved
in the arrangements between the parties. You should only address
issues covered in the first 6 weeks of the course.
You must use the ISAAC / IAC methodology in presenting your
assignment (see above section). In essence you should:
1. Identity issue
2. State the Law and Authority
3. Apply the Law
4. Reach a Conclusion
The word limit for this assignment is 1,700 words.