Question

33. Axel is a bricklaying working with his team on a building site for Beacon Fun Stuff Pty Ltd. He and his team are the only ones on the site, as Algol the managing director of Beacon Fun Stuff Ltd is on a tour for the day. A delivery truck from Timber West arrives with a load of timber and the driver asks Axel to sign for it. Axel signs. The next day Algol returns to the site. He says that there has been a mistake and that Beacon Fun Stuff Pty Ltd did not order the timber. He rings Timber West to ask them to pick up the timber. Timber West says that as far as they are concerned Beacon Fun Stuff Pty Ltd have signed for the timber and will have to pay for it.

Required: Advise the parties.

Answer 1

No .Timber West is wrong in saying that Beacon Fun Stuff Pty Ltd have signed , without verifying , to whom the goods are entrusted.

First of all, delivery truck has come to the wrong address, without any oral/written order-request for timber from Beacon Fun Stuff Pty Ltd. --which only seems to be the error of Timber West ,as is evident from their reply to Algol's phone -call

Secondly, the driver has handed over the timber & got the signature of a brick-laying person, who might have nothing to do with timber. The latter signed, as a matter of courtesy ,nobody was around, in the site.

In light of the above, it is only proper that TimberWest take back the timber at their own cost.

As the construction work is going on , in the site, Algol can only help TimberWest , if there will be any need for that quality & quantum of timber, anytime in the near future , to try to be accommodative & retain the timber that has been delivered--so that transaport costs might be saved for him also. But , he is not legally obligated to act in that manner.

Same way, Timber West can only request Algol, but cannot enforce legaly, as there is no contract at all --there was no request from Algol ,no aceptance to deliver from Timberwest. So cannot be legally pursued by TimberWest.