ASSESMENT 1 OPINION WRITTING

Law 595 / Law 609

Opinion Writing, September

2016

to

January

2017,

Coursework

(1)

You are the senior partner of the law firm. You receive a letter from a client seeking
legal advice on a matter. Peruse that letter and any other relevant evidence, then write
an
opinion
letter
for
that
client.

Date:

Jessie Khaw
Buttie

October

Engineering

50-50,

Solutions

2016

(BES)

Equality

Sdn

Avenue

Section 2
40450

Bhd
2/50

Shah

Alam

Selangor

To:
(Please

insert

name

of

senior

partner)

Senior
(Please

Partner
insert

the

name

and

address

of

your

law

firm)

Dear

Sir

Madam

(or

appropriate

title

for

Senior

Partner),

RE: MISSING STUFF, UNPAID BILLS AND ACCUMULATION OF DIRT

I manage a small engineering solutions company, which occupies the corner lot, of a
row of double story terrace houses, opposite UiTM Shah Alam. This business started
out as a hobby. My best friend, Ir Harcharan Singh Rhandawar (HSR) used to modify
motorised equipment for household gadgets in order to make such gadgets work more
efficiently. After friends who enjoyed this service spread news of this service, word of
mouth snowballed and generated numerous requests from commercial customers. So
HSR roped me in to start a company, which offered such services on a commercial
basis. As manger, I take care of supplies, spare parts, and other consumables, which
form an essential part of the business. I made sure that there was sufficient inventory
for
HSR
to
use
for
his
numerous
projects.

Exactly three months ago, I ordered a batch of 100 Detox Mini 12V DC 60RPM High
Torque Gear Box Electric Motors from Aree Bar Bar (ABB) at http://www.abb.com .
After selecting the goods for my shopping cart, I checked out and used my credit
card to pay for the consignment and shipment costs. Time was of the essence and
HSR wanted the parts as soon as possible. Hence I used the most secure and fastest
shipping option: Premium Delivery. Later that day, I received email notification that
the goods had been packed and shipped to me. My credit card statement, which was
part of my account registered at ABBs website, stated that a deduction had been
made. I received confirmation of this amount via SMS on my mobile phone.

Under ABBs Premium Delivery option, the consignment was supposed to reach me
in three days. However, two weeks later, when I checked BES inventory, the delivery
still had not been made. I would have checked earlier, but I was away on my annual
holiday at that time. This is when the nightmare started. According to ABBs records,
the package was still sitting in a Royal Malaysian Customs (RMC) warehouse at
Bukit Raja, Shah Alam. When I contacted RMC, I was informed that the consignment
was released to ABBs agent after paper work had been cleared. ABB disputes this
fact.

Until today, I have not seen the electric motors. As HSR needed the motors
desperately, I had to source the motors from another supplier. There was apparently a
global shortage at that moment, and the alternative motors cost BES ten times more
than the price I had paid for the ABB consignment. BES also had to pay a penalty for
late installment of the motors at its customers premises because HSR had to perform
substantial additional modifications [i.e. to the mounting and cable connectors] to the
motors for the project. If HSR had access to the motors from the ABB consignment,
there would not have been a need for these additional modifications.

Two months ago, HSR customized a security system at a warehouse for a customer.
HSR hooked up all the cameras, doors, ventilation vents, and robotic forklifts to a
series of special sensors, which could interface with an inventory managers hand
phone. The souped up warehouse management system essentially allowed a huge
space to be managed by a minimum number of staff. In this case, merely three people.
One manager, one operations technician and one security officer. All three persons
could interface with the warehouse systems through an app via a smart phone.

After full installation, the system was tested for a week. There were minor bugs here
and there. This took another week to sort out. After that, the system worked fine and
there were no malfunctions. In fact, after a month being fully operational, the
customer (i.e. owner of the warehouse) was so impressed that he promised that he
would pay the remaining 50 percent of the installation fee immediately. He also
instructed HSR to submit a plan for automating his other warehouse which was
situated closer to the port. This project was worth double that of the first warehouse
project.

Unfortunately, two days later, the entire system crashed. This caused the reefer units
in the warehouse to malfunction and also inventory information from the database
was wiped out. When the system was re-booted, HSR found out that the interface had
been hacked, despite having an advanced commercial (almost military grade)
encryption protection. A few days later, a group calling themselves Sou-My-Nona
(SMN) claimed responsibility for the hack. Many in industry believe that SMN are a

state

sponsored

cyber

terrorist

group

from

North

Korea.

As a result from the crash, the customer refused to pay the remaining 50 percent of
the invoice for the first project, and he also cancelled plans for automation of the
second warehouse, although HSR had spent substantial time and effort surveying the
place and drawing up detailed plans for the project, which he had submitted, to the
customer. HSR is really disappointed because he really wanted a long term working
commercial
relationship
with
this
person.

A couple of weeks ago, I realized that it has been a week since the janitor visited the
office and cleaned up the place. When I made inquiries, I learnt that three foreign
workers who were hired by this company had run away and the company had
difficulty meeting its contractual obligations. HSR likes to have the place clean. Since
then, I have personally spent time vacuuming the place to ensure that the levels of
dust were kept to a minimum. I cannot spent time doing this as I have management
work to do. I am losing my patience with HSR as he has been reluctant to hire new
cleaning services. He insists on the janitorial services company seeing out its contract
with
us.

Yours

(Jessie Khaw, Manager of BES)

sincerely,