TE PIRINGA FACULTY OF LAW
Creditors’ Remedies and Consumer Protection 2012 Outline
1.
Identification of Paper
Paper: LAWS 422-12S
This paper carries 20 points
2.
Staffing
Sue Tappenden
(Convenor)
Phone: ext 6523
Room: 27
email: suetapp@waikato.ac.nz
available Monday and Wednesday 1-2
3.
Description and Structure of Paper
(a) An examination of the law relating to Creditors’ Remedies and Consumer Protection
(b) Structure of the Paper
As this is an intensive course we will have a flexible timetable, using the four-hour blocks for
teaching, workshops and tutorials as appropriate to the topic being taught.
(c) Attendance
Te Piringa Faculty of Law places great emphasis on providing students with opportunities for high
achievement in law papers and attendance is therefore advisable to maximise academic benefits.
4.
Learning outcomes
a. A student who has successfully completed this paper will demonstrate a detailed knowledge of
the duties owed by companies and company directors to creditors and the remedies that are
available to creditors when companies fail to pay their debts.
b. Students will also have a keen appreciation of the criminal sanctions available to the Courts
when directors act in a fraudulent way.
c. Also any student who successfully completes this paper will have a detailed knowledge of the
law relating to consumer protection and the proposed reforms to that law.
d. He/she will have proficiency in problem-solving.
e. He/she will also be capable of undertaking a major piece of research in the area of Consumer
protection.
Both problem-solving and research are transferable skills. The paper is assessed by way of a long
research paper (up to 4,500 words), which will demonstrate learning outcomes c and e, and an
examination, which will encompass learning outcomes a, b & d.
5.
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Workload
Students should expect to spend 200 hours in total on this paper. In addition to lecture
attendance, significant time will need to be spent on background and complementary reading.
Students should allow for periods of more-focused research time in the preparation of
assignments.
6.
Required and Recommended Reading
All law students are required to purchase, for use in all law papers, a copy of McLay, Murray &
Orpin, New Zealand Law Style Guide, Thomson Reuters (2009). This is available from Bennetts, at
an approximate price of $18.90.
The Law School requires that students purchase the course materials book(s) for this paper.
These are available from Waikato Print. There are no specific texts for this paper but students will
find the following book very useful and it contains the legislation we shall be studying as well as
commentary.
Title: Personal and Corporate Insolvency Legislation
Author/s: David Brown & Thomas Telfer
ISBN: 9780408717663
Further material may be provided on the paper site on Moodle (http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz), the
University of Waikato’s online learning system. Any such material is provided on the following
terms:
University of Waikato owns the intellectual property rights, including copyright, in and to this site,
or has acquired the necessary licenses to display the material on the site. As a student of the Te
Piringa Faculty of Law, you are granted a limited license to use (access, display or print a single
copy) the material from the papers in which you are enrolled for the purposes of participating in
the paper only, provided the information is not modified. Materials may not under any
circumstances be copied, stored, distributed or provided in any form or method whatsoever to
any third party. Any other use of the material is prohibited. None of the material may be
otherwise reproduced, reformatted, republished or re-disseminated in any manner or form
without the prior written consent of University of Waikato. To obtain such consent, please
contact the Te Piringa Faculty of Law.
7.
Online support
Online support for this paper is provided via Moodle.
8.
Assessment
a)
Requirements for assessed work
School procedures for the presentation of course work are set out in the Te Piringa Faculty of Law
Undergraduate Handbook which is available from http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/undergraduate.
See also paragraph 11 on referencing guidelines and plagiarism.
Assignment resources are available online at http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/student/
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b)
Coursework: Final Examination Ratio: 50:50
c)
Assessment Components
Component
Research Paper,
Examination, Open book
Percentage of overall mark
50%
50%
Due date
13th February 2012
w/c 20th Feb 2012
The research paper will be no shorter than 2,500 words and no longer than 4,500 words, including
footnotes. The paper will require you to undertake independent research, showing a detailed
analysis of the law relating to consumer protection and to suggest reforms. The open book, 2
hour examination will test your problem-solving skills and you knowledge of the law relating to
creditors’ remedies.
d)
Handing in, marking time and collection
All assignments must be submitted electronically through Moodle (http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz).
See
Te
Piringa
Faculty
of
Law
Undergraduate
Handbook,
available
at
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/undergraduate. It is the policy of Te Piringa Faculty of Law to
return marked work to students within five weeks of submission.
If you require assistance with Moodle, or encounter any problems, please contact the Help Desk.
You can send a message to Help Desk by using the instant message service in your paper (from
the participants list within the People block). Alternatively, you can email them directly at
help@waikato.ac.nz or call 838 4008.
e)
Measurement of Achievement
Achievement in examinations and tests will be measured primarily in terms of levels of
understanding and knowledge gained. Achievement in assignments will be measured also in
terms of fluency and accuracy of expression and referencing.
f)
Management of assessment deadlines, process for requesting extensions and special
consideration, and for appeals
(i)
Extensions
Students are required to complete and submit all internal assessment by specified dates. The
meeting of deadlines is a mark of professionalism and its enforcement is essential for fairness to
all students taking the paper. Handing in course work on or before the due in date also facilitates
the timely return of marked work by academic staff. Students should meet requirements as to
time deadlines for course work, or make a request for an extension or special consideration in
appropriate circumstances (see Undergraduate Programmes Manual available from the School of
Law Undergraduate website http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/undergraduate/). Failure to comply
with requirements as to the time deadlines for internal assessment without having successfully
applied either for an extension or special consideration with supporting evidence before the due
date will result in deduction of 2.5 marks for each day the work is late. Lateness of more than a
week may result in the work not being marked. No deadlines may be extended beyond two
weeks after the last teaching day of the semester(s) in which the paper is taught as final grades
must go to the Board of Examiners at this time. Unless an extension in writing has been granted,
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a lecturer may refuse to accept a piece of work which is submitted after the specified date, and
automatically award it no mark, or may lower the mark as a penalty for lateness.
Applications for extension, on the form obtainable from the Resource Room, must be submitted
to the Chief Examiner or nominee. Students should not submit the extension form to the
lecturer, nor should students seek extensions from the lecturer via other forms of
communication. Extensions will be granted only on evidence of illness, family bereavement, or
serious personal accidents or circumstances. Please note that too many assignments due at the
same time is NOT an acceptable reason, neither are claims that computers and/or printers have
crashed. Account will be taken of the time in which the student has had to complete the internal
assessment before the supervening event occurred. It will be important to consider if the grant of
the extension will give the student in question an unfair advantage over other students. A
maximum period of 14 days will be given as an extension unless there are exceptional
circumstances. In determining applications the Chief Examiner or nominee may consult with the
Convenor or lecturer of the relevant paper.
When the Chief Examiner or nominee has made a decision on the application for extension, the
Resource Room Administrative Assistant will advise the student of the decision by email.
Following this, the extension form will be given to the relevant lecturer who will retain it until
after the assignment is marked and returned to students. The form will then be placed on the
student’s file. It should be noted that if an extension of longer than 14 days is granted, the
assignment will not be automatically printed out and delivered to the lecturer, therefore the
lecturer is responsible for ensuring the assignment is printed. In appropriate cases, when a
student’s application for extension is declined the Chief Examiner or nominee will inform the
student of the process for applying for special consideration.
ii)
Special Consideration
The Assessment Regulations 2005 as set out in the University Calendar 2012 list in detail the
university-wide policies and procedures, which apply concerning missed examinations, impaired
performance or impaired preparation time for an examination, and missed or impaired course
work. Students are responsible for ensuring that they comply with these regulations. Application
forms for special consideration for internal assessment are available from the Resource Room.
iii)
Appeals (University Calendar 2012, Assessment Regulations 2005, Reg. 24)
A student may appeal against any decision taken under these regulations.
An appeal, comprising a written statement of the circumstances of the appeal, together with
supporting evidence if available, must be submitted by the student in writing to the Head of
Student & Academic Services not more than seven days after the date on which notification of the
relevant decision is received.
Appeals under this section are considered and decided by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor by
delegated authority of the Academic Programmes Committee.
A decision by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor is notified in writing, and is final.
9.
University Calendar Regulations and Policies
Your attention is drawn to the following regulations and policies, which are published in the
University Calendar 2012:
Assessment Regulations 2005
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Student Discipline Regulations 2008
Computer Systems Regulations 2005
Policy on the Use of Māori for Assessment
Student Research Regulations 2008
Ethical Conduct in Human Research and Related Activities Regulations 2008.
10.
Links to other papers
The paper is taught on the assumption that students have completed Equity & Succession
plus either Corporate Entities or Commercial Law
11.
Fees
Refer to http://calendar.waikato.ac.nz/admission/tableoffeesandcharges.html.
12.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Referencing guidelines and caution against plagiarism
Referencing must be in accordance with the New Zealand Law Style Guide.
All written work submitted for the purposes of assessment must be your own work.
Copying or paraphrasing all or part of another person’s work, be it published or
unpublished, without clear attribution, is plagiarism. Plagiarism is misconduct and is dealt
with under the disciplinary procedures of the University as outlined in the Student
Discipline Regulations 2008 in the University Calendar.
“Plagiarism means presenting as one’s own work the work of another, and includes the
copying or paraphrasing of another person’s work in an assessment item without
acknowledging it as the other person’s work through full and accurate referencing; it
applies to assessment presented through a written, spoken, electronic, broadcasting,
visual, performance or other medium.” See section 3, Assessment Regulations (2012
Calendar)
The Te Piringa Faculty of Law’s policy regarding plagiarism is contained in the Te Piringa
Faculty of Law Undergraduate Handbook and the Te Piringa Faculty of Law Undergraduate
Programmes Manual, available from http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/undergraduate/.
13.
Health and safety
The Law School’s Health and Safety representative is Ms Alison Saunders who is in Room Law G44
at ext 4167.
14.
Class representation
See p 68 Te Piringa Faculty of Law Undergraduate Handbook available from
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/undergraduate/. Contact details for the Student Representation
Coordinator, Academic Services Division, are as follows: Samantha Whittle, Student Services, ext.
6264, CHSSG.25 email: student.reps@waikato.ac.nz.
15.
Complaints procedures
The brochure Student Concerns and Complaints Policy provides details of the University’s process
for handling concerns and complaints and is available from Faculty and School Offices, The
Gateway and Student Services Division and is contained in the Calendar 2012. See also the
document Student Support Structure at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, available from the Resource
Room.
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Lecture Schedule Summer School 1
Week Commencing
Programme of lecture topics
9 January (Summer semester 1 begins 9 January)
Introduction to Paper and assessment
Introduction to Consumer Law – the 7
papers
Introduction to Creditors’ Remedies
Insolvency & Fraud
Workshop – Consumer Law
16 January
Unfair Practice in Consumer law
Fair Trading Act
Unfair Contract Terms Act
Misleading or Deceptive conduct
Selling & Duress
Directors’ Liability
23 January
Consumer Law tutorial
Consumer Guarantees & Extended
Warranties, Product Safety
Information to Assist Consumer Decisions
Trader Obligations, Layby Sales
Weights and Measures
30 January (30 January Anniversary Day)
Consumer Tutorial
Directors’ Duties to Creditors
6 February (6 February Waitangi Day)
Remedies available to Creditors
Liquidators’ Duties
13 February
Research papers progress reports
20 February
Examinations
27 February
Examinations/Enrolment
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