Resolving a breach of contract dispute with Go Parcel Ltd: Strengths and weaknesses of negotiation,

Strengths and weaknesses of negotiation

Abdul Hamid is your client. In 2015, Abdul gave up his career as a teacher and set up a perfume shop, Oud, specialising in the sale and distribution of high-end perfumes from South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

He has a small shop on the Sahara Road in Europe from where Abdul packs and sells his perfumes to his commercial clients across Europe. He also sells to the general public.

Abdul has an established reputation as a reliable supplier of high-quality perfumes and maintains strong ties with all of his commercial clients. Abdul’s business has grown substantially over the last two years.

As a consequence, in March 2020, he decided to enter into a contract with a new delivery service provider, Go Parcel Ltd, to deliver perfumes to Abdul’s European clients.

Delivering the perfumes on time is crucial for Abdul’s clients as well as to Oud’s finances and reputation in the market. Go Parcel successfully delivered parcels on time in the first year of the contract.

However, things began to go wrong in May 2021 when a number of high value parcels were delivered late to four of Abdul’s biggest commercial clients. Although Go Parcel’s senior manager reassured Abdul that this was only a ‘blip’, things went from bad to worse, and Go Parcel is consistently making late deliveries.

This has meant that Abdul has lost clients and has incurred various penalty changes under those contracts. Abdul is also concerned that the reputation of Oud, which he has worked so hard to build-up, is being damaged.

Abdul estimates that he has lost over $60,000 in having to pay penalty changes and as a result of losing contracts with various commercial clients.

He is concerned that his existing clients will also leave him. He wants to protect his reputation in the market and wants to recoup his losses from Go Parcel who is clearly in breach of contract.

He is under financial pressure and does not want to have to incur substantial legal costs in resolving this issue with Go Parcel. Your supervising partner has asked you to draft a letter of advice on the various dispute resolution methods available to Abdul in resolving this matter.

The task is as follows:- You need to write one letter: In the letter you will need to advise your client about the strengths and weaknesses of negotiation, mediation, litigation, and arbitration as possible next steps for resolving this dispute.

Conclude by advising your client which option your client should prefer, explaining why. Remember that you are advising your client who will need to make the final decision using your advice.