Legal Opinion Writing Project – You are required to draft a legal opinion for Ms Alice Tan, based on the annexed File Note: Legal Communications, Assignment, TP

Instructions

You are required to draft a legal opinion for Ms Alice Tan, based on the annexed File Note, on whether she has a case against Mr Dennis Lee.

This is an individual assignment. Although the authorities (eg statutory provisions) you cite may be the same as your classmates’, we expect each opinion to be unique. Opinions which are strikingly similar will be investigated and may result in penalties to both/all students involved.

The suggested length of your opinion is 4 to 7 A4 pages. Your opinion should be set out in a letter addressed to the client.

You are to:

a) State the elements of the applicable law and explain whether these elements are fulfilled in your client’s case.

b) Explore the defences available, if any.

c) Refer to relevant sections of the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act 2003 (“CPFTA”) and the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, if any, and explain how these section(s) would apply to the case.

d) Organise your opinion well with a proper numbering system with
main and sub-headings.

The marking rubric is set out in Annex A.

Parties in Attendance: Alice Tan (Client), Ong Chin Chong (Partner in Charge)

Client is 22 years old, a full-time student at Sang Nila Utama University majoring in Singapore history.
On 18 June 2024, she had dropped her hand phone into the toilet bowl and it stopped working.
On the same day, she headed to Hi Tech Shopping Center to look for a new phone which would suit her budget.
 She wanted to purchase the latest model of the Ai-Phone, the Ai-Phone Z, retailing at $2,000, but it was too expensive and she could not afford it.
She was about to go home when she came across a pop-up store run by Dennis Lee.
The store was advertising the Hai-Phone. The advertisement stated that it had similar specifications as the Ai-Phone Z and that it was going for $300.
Alice decided to make some enquiries about the Hai-Phone.
 Dennis showed Alice a sample of the phone and she was impressed by the performance of the phone.
 The sample shown to her had a 6.7 inch OLED backlit widescreen and a 48-megapixel camera, which the Ai-Phone Z also had. It was thinner and lighter than the Ai-Phone Z.
She was tempted to purchase the phone but she was a little concerned that the Hai-Phone brand was not a known brand.
Dennis had assured her that it was made by an up-and-coming phone manufacturing company in China.
She was also happy to find that the phone came in pink, which was her favourite colour.
 She decided to purchase a pink Hai-Phone from Dennis.
Dennis Lee made her sign a contract and then handed her a new phone in a box and she paid Dennis Lee in cash.
Dennis Lee asked her to check the phone but client did not check the phone at the time of purchase as she was in a rush to return home to catch her favourite Korean drama series, Ascendance of the Moon.
When she returned home, she discovered that the phone only had a 4.8-megapixel camera and there was a scratch on the display screen.
When she started using the phone, she found that the battery life only lasted for 1 hour and the phone had to be charged repeatedly throughout the day.
Unhappy with the quality of the phone, she went back to the mall to look for Dennis Lee.
Dennis Lee told her that it was too bad that she happened to get a phone which had a scratch and a faulty battery. He also told her that the Hai-Phone that he had shown her  was his own personal phone that he had specially upgraded to a 48-megapixel camera. The standard model came with a 4.8-megapixel camera.
He said that it was not his fault that she was careless and did not check the phone properly, including the screen for scratches before leaving his shop.
He referred to the contract and said that he was not liable under the contract signed at  the time of purchase.
Frustrated, she decided to seek legal action. She wants:
(a) to claim against Dennis for unfair practice; and
(b) a replacement of the phone or to have the phone repaired with a 48-megapixel camera, a screen with no scratches and a working battery.
Copy of contract in file.
 Preliminary research shows that under s.13(2) of the CPFTA, references to dealing as consumer are to be construed in accordance with s.12(1) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. Under s.12(1) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act, a party to a contract “deals as consumer” in relation to another party if:

o (a) he neither makes the contract in the course of a business nor holds himself out
as doing so;
o (b) the other party does make the contract in the course of a business; and
o (c) in the case of a contract governed by the law of sale of goods or hire purchase, or by section 7, the goods passing under or in pursuance of the contract are of a type ordinarily supplied for private use or consumption.

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