Please identify all the relevant parties and provide all the legal issues and analyze for each argument :

Richard Kohn and Marcia Bittencourt recently received their CPA designations, and decided to start their own accounting firm in Toronto, Ontario called Kohn and Bittencourt LLP. Their primary focus was conducting business valuations for litigation purposes. Since they had taken a Business Law course in their program, they also negotiated and signed a partnership agreement. The agreement dealt with the usual matters, including a clause that stated: “The parties agree that neither party can set up a competing accounting practice in the Greater Toronto Area for two years after the party exits the partnership.”

On September 4, Marcia received a call from Aliya Mahmood, a family lawyer. Aliya was seeking a business valuation for a client who was going through a divorce, for the purpose of determining division of property between the spouses. Marcia agreed to take on the file (project), and asked Aliya to send her specific documents related to the business. Aliya sent two sets of documents, one large package by courier on September 11, and additional documents by secure email on September 15.

Marcia received the courier package and proceeded to conduct a business valuation based on the information provided in that package. On the morning of September 15, Marcia received some disturbing news regarding a family member, and because of her distress, she overlooked the email from Aliya with the second set of documents.

When Marcia sent the business valuation to Aliya Mahmood, she seemed a bit surprised. “Did you get both sets of documents that I sent to you?” she asked Marcia. “Yes, of course,” said Marcia. She ignored the question about the second set of documents and replied, “I reviewed all the documents that you sent to me”. Later that day, Marcia checked her email and realized that she had not seen Aliya’s email with the additional documents. Embarrassed by her mistake, Marcia decided to say nothing.

Meanwhile, Richard met Angelo, a local businessman, at a community event. Angelo was complaining about his bookkeeper going on maternity leave, and how he needed someone to do some basic accounting for his business. Seeing an opportunity, Richard offered Angelo his business card.

“Look”, said Angelo, “I’m not interested in retaining an accounting firm. I’ll pay you cash for some work that you can do on the side. It’s a win-win situation for both of us.” Richard was a bit uncomfortable, but he agreed, and started doing some accounting work for Angelo on Sundays. He did not tell Marcia, and kept the cash that Angelo paid him for his work.

Months later, Marcia met Aliya at a social function hosted by a business contact at Crazy Kat Bar & Lounge. Unfortunately, Marcia had too much to drink that night. Aliya mentioned that the client had been disappointed by the business valuation, as he thought that the supplementary documents sent by email should have resulted in a different value.

“Well, who knows,” said Marcia. “I never looked at those documents. Anyways, the guy settled the case and now it’s over, so everyone is happy.”

By midnight, Marcia was clearly drunk. She ordered another drink at the bar, and initially, the bartender refused to serve her. Marcia started flirting with the bartender and convinced him to give her one more drink before the bar closed. By this time, Richard had left with another friend, and when the bar closed, Marcia stumbled out of the bar alone. Sadly, Marcia walked into oncoming traffic, and while she was not hit by a car,

She fell and seriously injured her leg. After months of pain, surgery and therapy, Marcia could only walk with the use of a cane.

Meanwhile, Richard continued the practice as a business valuator on his own, as Marcia was unable to work for 10 months. He went to a local computer store called CompuSource Ltd. (“CompuSource”) and discussed various options with a salesperson named Marc. Richard found the prices of the computers a bit high, so he told Marc that he would think about the options and get back to him.

At that point, Marc said, “I’m not really supposed to do this, but I will give you a free printer if you buy the HP Model ABC today. There is a promotion that ended yesterday, but I can extend it for one more day for customers that buy that computer. But you have to buy it today.”

With the printer included in the deal, Richard felt that it was worth buying the HP Model ABC, and so he purchased it and left to get back to the office in a rush. One week later, he received delivery of the computer, but no printer. When he looked at the invoice, he realized that there was nothing written on the invoice about the printer. He called CompuSource and spoke to the manager, who informed him that Marc was no longer working with them. Richard told the manager that Marc had promised to extend the promotion for a free printer with the HP Model ABC to the date of purchase, and so he was expecting to get a free printer with the computer.

“What promotion?” asked the manager of CompuSource. “We’ve never had that type of promotion. I’m sorry but the price you paid is for the computer alone, and it was a final sale. We will not refund your money.”

To make matters worse, the computer stopped working within two weeks of purchase. No one at CompuSource would help Richard, and the manager would no longer return his repeated calls.

Frustrated, Richard called one of his friends, who recommended that he take the computer to Tech Fix Inc. (“Tech Fix”) which was operated by Hai-Yun. Hai-Yun was excellent at fixing all electronic devices. Richard took the computer to Tech Fix, which had a shop in a local plaza. When he arrived, the shop was quite busy and there were several customers waiting to speak with Hai-Yun. Hai-Yun was trying hard to address everyone’s concerns. He asked Richard what the issue was, and when Richard explained that the computer had crashed, he took Richard’s name and phone number and asked him to leave the computer on the counter near the cash register. Hai-Yun told him that he would call him later that day after he had assessed the computer. Richard left the store to return to work. Unfortunately, while Hai-Yun was distracted, another customer took Richard’s computer and walked out of the store, unknown to Hai-Yun.

The next day, Richard called Hai-Yun and asked him about his computer. “What computer?” asked Hai-Yun. Richard was upset. “Remember, you took my name and told me that you’d call me to let me know if you could fix it? I’ve been waiting to hear from you, and I’m just calling now to follow up.” Hai-Yun was quiet for a moment and said, “I’m sorry, sir, you must be mistaken. There was no computer left here on the counter. I remember asking you to leave it on the counter but when I checked later that afternoon, I didn’t see the computer, so I assumed that you changed your mind and took it with you.” Richard was furious. He explained that he had left the computer on the counter as instructed by Hai-Yun, and it was up to Hai-Yun to find out how it had disappeared. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything about that,” replied Hai-Yun, before he hung up.

In the meantime, Richard had purchased another computer to continue running his practice. He had also decided to exit the partnership with Marcia. Although Marcia was very disappointed, they followed the terms of the partnership agreement and arrived at a reasonable value that Marcia would pay Richard for his share of the partnership. Although Marcia still experienced pain in her leg (and likely would experience this pain for the rest of her life), she was now able to return to work. She was thrilled that she was able to get a job with a major accounting firm called Thornton LLP.

Marcia worked for Thornton LLP for 5 years, and quickly distinguished herself as a hard worker. She was promoted to the position of Manager, and then Director of Small Business Consulting. After 5 years, Thornton LLP merged with another accounting firm, and there was a change in leadership. Marcia’s boss changed and seemed to be unfriendly from the start. Marcia was very surprised when her boss asked to meet with her one day and told her that she was going to be moved to the Winnipeg office, where she would be Director of a smaller team than she currently had. Marcia was shocked.

“But I can’t move to Winnipeg – I have family commitments in Toronto,” she told her new boss. The boss seemed sympathetic but offered her two options – either take the job in Winnipeg or be demoted to the position of Manager of an even smaller team in Toronto, where she would report to one of her current team members. With this new position, Marcia’s salary would also drop by 20%. Marcia was outraged, and stormed out of the office as she said “I quit!”

Marcia ultimately decided to start her own practice under the name Bittencourt Accounting Professional Corporation.

Discuss all the legal issues raised in this scenario. Identify relevant parties and all potential legal arguments. Analyze the legal arguments thoroughly, and comment on the likely outcome for each legal issue.

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