Hamilton is a qualified accountant and is employed as a business development manager with the Neodymium Boutique Hotel: Business and Company Law Assignment, NUI, Ireland

Hamilton is a qualified accountant and is employed as a business development manager with the Neodymium Boutique Hotel, which is based in Bray, County Wicklow. A number of legal issues have recently arisen:

• Hamilton has just discovered that a former employee, Trent, who has recently stopped working for the Hotel as a corporate account manager, has commenced employment with their main competitor, and since commencing this employment the Hotel has lost four of its most valuable corporate clients. Due to the sensitive nature of the business, the Hotel had insisted that Trent sign an agreement to the effect that he would not compete with or solicit any business customers of the Neodymium Boutique Hotel within a 100 km radius of the Hotel for a period of six months, upon leaving his employment. Hamilton has just discovered that the competitor that Trent is working for is only 30kms from the Neodymium Boutique Hotel and that he has been soliciting corporate clients by offering them discounts on the rates being charged by the Neodymium Boutique Hotel. Hamilton has now contacted you seeking advice in relation to this matter.
• In September 2021, in order to boost their revenue streams, the hotel booked Dizzy Hall, a beauty influencer, to host their fashion and beauty fair, for an agreed fee of €5,000.  They agreed to pay her €2,500 at the time of booking and the balance on the day of the event.  Unfortunately, three days before the event was due to take place Dizzy was involved in a serious car accident, which left her with three cracked ribs and a fractured pelvis.  Consequently, she was unable to attend this event.
  When the Neodymium Boutique Hotel became aware of Dizzy’s injuries, they decided to cancel the event as they had used Dizzy’s reputation to advertise it and knew that ticket sales on the day would fall significantly if she was not hosting. Thereafter they contacted the DJ, Danny Diamond, who they had hired to work this event, and told him his services were no longer required.
  At this stage, they had already paid Danny a deposit of €1600 and owed him a balance of €1800 payable on the day of the event.  Danny has demanded that he be paid the balance due, but to date, the hotel has not made that payment.  Hamilton is unsure as to how to proceed in this situation and he has contacted you seeking advice.
• Last month the Neodymium Boutique Hotel ordered a number of tea sets from Rose Cottage Chinaware as they were launching an afternoon tea service at the Hotel. The order was delivered by Swift Parcel Service. When Hamilton opened the package, he was disappointed to discover that more than half of the tea sets were broken into several large pieces.  Hamilton immediately contacted Rose Cottage Chinaware on behalf of the Neodymium Boutique Hotel to explain what had happened.
  However, Rose Cottage Chinaware explained to him that they have no way of knowing whether the breakage arose as a consequence of their packaging of the product, the negligence of the delivery company, or whether an employee of the Hotel had not dropped the package themselves, causing the breakage.  They then highlighted a term contained in their order confirmation notice, which was emailed to Hamilton after he placed the order, which states as follows:

Rose Cottage Chinaware accepts no responsibility for any damage, whatsoever or howsoever caused, in relation to breakages of chinaware products.  Any term, condition, or warranty, where express, implied, or statutory attributing liability is hereby specifically excluded.

Consequently, Rose Cottage Chinaware is refusing to refund the Neodymium Boutique Hotel or send them replacement items.  Hamilton is outraged by Rose Cottage Chinaware’s response to the Hotel’s complaint and he has contacted you seeking advice as to how he should proceed in this regard.