LAW 7157 Introduction To Business Law

Part A - What are your rights and obligations in relation to Larry, your staff and Other clients?

In order to determine the rights and obligations of a licensee one first needs to understand who is a licensee. Any person who holds a license which is valid is a licensee. Here the matter which is being dealt with is a club whose license is with the person mentioned. So as the case states there is a person who is creating commotion at the property whose license the former holds and therefore the licensee’s rights and obligations for the same has to be mentioned.

Rights and obligations in relations to Larry that the licensee would have been discussed further. Here the country that we are looking at is Australia and the licensee tends to have more obligations than rights in matters like this, especially when this is a place that is serving alcohol. Selling alcohol comes with responsibilities and less of rights. The licensee needs to keep the following things in mind:

• Responsibility of the place that would be serving alcohol to customers so that all nuisance and problems can be avoided
• The fire safety of the place
• Signage wherever required
• Actions that take place by staff and the people visiting, whether the same will affect the neighboring areas or people
• Tending to the specifications of the license which has been provided
• Record keeping of all kinds
• Auditing
• Compliance
• Administration

Apart from what has been mentioned above the obligations would also include:

When you’re licensee of a place that runs a nigh bar, you need to know how much alcohol to serve. People cannot be taking away the alcohol that you have to serve, but should finish their drinks, and also that people of this kind should belong to your area (the red line concept).

When you notice that there is a person who is already intoxicated, alluring speech or behaving oddly, you need to stop serving alcohol to such people. Do o allow already drunk people in the premises.

Alcohol not to be served to people who are below the age of 18 and only allow entry of such people when they are with an adult.

Free drinking water should be available

Food menus should be available

The staff should be trained as per the guidelines of Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation

Bills given to the customers should have details as mentioned by the same.

There are few things which have to be under the control of the licensee, like parking problems, vandalism, behavioral aspects of staff and customers, nuisance, debris and everything else.

Security camera and entry books have to be maintained.

Therefore it can be said that as a licensee the person has overall responsibility which he owes to the side, the staff and the customer. He has additional responsibility towards the other customers as well who are present in the bar. The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation is the guiding body in this case which means that all laws and legal obligations which are mentioned in the same has to be followed by the licensee.

Here Larry is a drunken customer who does not use the washroom which is within the premises (assumption) but in a state of drunkenness goes and uses a washroom which was in dilapidated state and which was at the back of the building. But since the structure was in shambles the walls fall on Larry and he sustains some serious injuries. Here the discussion has to be put forward in the light of negligence, vicarious liability and occupier’s liability as per the Wrongs Act 1958.

Any case of negligence is formed when there are three valid essentials of a case of negligence which is fulfilled, which includes:

• The presence of a duty of care
• The breach of duty of care
• The breach of duty causing harm to plaintiff and this relationship of proximity was something that could have been foreseeable by a man of common prudence.

In this case as a licensee of the premises that person has the responsibility of all the places in around attached to the property and the falling of walls to a part of the property is something which should be under this person and the falling of walls and Larry getting hurt makes it a case of negligence as dilapidated walls can fall anytime is also foreseeable, Nagle v Rottnest Island Authority (1993). But here since Larry was drunk, s5 Wrongs Act, which adds to contributory negligence and the whole responsibility, does not fall on the licensee. Therefore though the licensee will be responsible but not completely.

The concept of vicarious liability does not apple in the given case because vicarious liability i8s a secondary and strict form of liability which only applies to cases where pone person is in a superior position and other is subordinate. Here the licensee and the customers do not fall in such relationships and therefore the concept is not applicable here.

Part IIA of the Wrongs Act talks about —Occupiers' Liability. As per section 14B an occupier of a place is to take over all case of the place and likeness of events and injuries sustained for that has to be under the occupiers, including the entering of a person in a state of intoxication. He has to overall take care that the people who are entering the place do not sustain any kind of injury with respect to the property. Here even if one state that the licensee will be responsible for the turn of events as the washroom was a part of the property and the injuries sustained were not exactly Larry’s fault, one cannot deny the fact that Larry was drunk and in such state, people tend to not be reasonable. If Larry was not drunk he probably would have avoided using the washroom at the back of the property and therefore the licensee cannot be entirely held responsible in the given case as well as intoxication is a defense for the licensee.

References:

Atiyah, P.S., 1967. Vicarious liability in the Law of Torts. Butterworths.

Handford, P., Occupiers' Liability Reform in Western Australia-and Elsewhere'(1987). University of Western Australia Law Review, 17, p.182.

Hill, J.G., 2003. Corporate criminal liability in Australia: an evolving corporate governance technique?.