1. Oneal Maraj has been carrying on a sole proprietorship business as an architect since 1990. Sheila Ng became qualified as an architect in 2008. Oneal has known Sheila’s family for a long time and has been a mentor to her, giving her advice on her career. Oneal wanted to help Sheila get started in her work as an architect. They discussed the possibility of carrying on business in partnership but instead decided to practice as sole practitioners working in the same location, with Oneal referring work to Sheila whenever he could, and sharing common costs. Both entered into a ten-year lease for the second floor of a local building where they would carry on business. They both signed the lease as tenants. As part of their cost-saving effort, they hired a secretary to work for both of them. All office equipment and office furniture were acquired by both of them with payment being shared equally. The payment was made from a common joint bank account that they opened in both their names. The lease payments, the salary of the secretary and all other common expenses are paid out of this account. From time to time, Oneal and Sheila advertised in the local newspaper. The advertisements took the following form: The sign on their office door and the directory in the lobby of the building said the same thing. To ensure that no doubt existed as to the nature of their relationship, Oneal and Sheila entered into a written agreement that provided as follows: 
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3. a) each of them would be carrying on business as a sole proprietor; 
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5. b) each of them would have their own clients, do their own billing, and be individually responsible for costs related exclusively to their activities, such as insurance, long-distance telephone, and monthly internet charges; 
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7. c) all common expenses would be shared equally and paid from the joint bank account with cheques that required the signatures of both Oneal and Sheila; 
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9. d) each month, each of them would deposit $2,000 into the joint bank account to pay for the common expenses, and Dr. Farshad Sarmad May 2021 Page 2 of 2 Oneal and Sheila consulted frequently with one another when rendering advice, and at times met together with clients to discuss potential issues. Often clients would ask if they were partners, and their response was always that they were only close associates. 
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11. One day in May 2008, Luke, a long-time client of Oneal’s, came to their office. It was the first time that Luke had consulted Oneal since Oneal had started sharing space with Sheila. Luke asked Oneal to design a commercial building for him. Oneal replied as follows: I am very busy right now, but I can get my new associate, Sheila Ng, to design the building. She is very talented and has a cheaper hourly rate than I do. 
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13. You can still speak to me with any questions you have but Sheila will do the design. Luke agreed to have Sheila do the design. She prepared a design of the building and sent Luke a bill on her letterhead which only referred to her name and not Oneal’s. Luke had a couple of questions about the work and he called Oneal. Oneal answered his questions. Eventually Luke paid the bill with a cheque payable to Sheila alone. After she received Luke’s payment, Sheila decided to pay Oneal 10% of the total fees paid by Luke for the design to reward him for his role in getting her the work and helping out by answering Luke’s questions. Six (6) months later the not-yet-complete building collapsed. 
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15. Assuming that the reason that the building collapsed is that Sheila was negligent in designing the building, is Oneal liable to Luke for Sheila’s negligence? Depending on the role assigned to you, you may be asked to act as the plaintiff's legal counsel (Luke) or the defendant (Oneal). So prepare both sides of the argument.

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Answer According to case the building has collapsed after six months of the contract completion and ... View the full answer