Question 1ABC Construction Pty Ltd (A) was carrying out road maintenance work. One of its employees, John (J) carelessly severed the electricity cable under the access road with a mechanical digger....

Question 1ABC Construction Pty Ltd (A) was carrying out road maintenance work. One of its employees, John (J) carelessly severed the electricity cable under the access road with a mechanical digger. Power was cut off some time. The road is in an isolated rural area and the cable serves only a very small number of customers including the country estate owned by Bella (B). Inside the country estate, B has an aquarium containing a number of rare fish. Owing to the power failure, many fish died.The incident happened on the Friday before the holiday weekend. B previously announced in the press and on the internet that the estate would be open to the public during the holiday weekend and half of the proceeds would go to her favourite charity, Save the Earth (S). As a result of the power failure, B announced on her website that her country estate would not be open during the holiday weekend. A number of visitors posted comments on her website that they had especially wanted to see the fish and would therefore not be coming. B had to refund money to visitors who had purchased entrance tickets in advance.Advise B and S as to any claims that they may have against A.
Question 2Zak (Z) recently bought a farm with a large farm house.Ronald (R) owns a land next to the river behind Z’s property.Soon after moving in, Z saw R walking along the narrow track within Z’s property to the main road. When Z asked R about it, R said that this was the only way to reach his cottage and he and his visitors had been using this track since he bought the cottage 25 years ago. It was the only way for R to reach the main road from his land.Z was due to go away on a business trip shortly thereafter, so he took no further action until his return three months later. When he got back, he discovered that R was running a small accommodation business, comprising an four-bedroom guesthouse on his land. R has also laid tar over the track to make it easier for guests and suppliers’ deliveries to reach the guesthouse.Based on decided cases, please advise Z.