Legal Practice: Foundation Skills 2018/2019
WORKSHOP 4: NEGOTIATION (2)
Instructions for Students Representing Richard Bartons Promotions Limited
Richard Bartons is the managing director of Richard Bartons Promotions Limited which carries on the business of promoting rock concerts and other musical events. The company has organised and promoted the Frenchay Blues Festival for the last 10 years.
Terry Tightfoot is a 55 year old blues singer and guitarist who was very successful during the late 1980’s. In recent years he has staged something of a comeback following an extended period of inactivity rumoured to have been caused by alcohol abuse and an obsessional interest in crop circles.
On 15 April 2018, Mr Bartons emailed Mr Daniel Stein of the Fab Acts Agency with a view to booking his client, Mr Tightfoot, to appear as the main act at the 2018 Frenchay Blues Festival. Mr Bartons made it clear, by email, that the booking included Mr Tightfoot’s participation in a rehearsal which was to take place two days prior to the public performance at the Festival. Mr Stein accepted the booking on Mr Tightfoot’s behalf by an email dated 16 April 2018.
The Frenchay Festival was to be the climax of Mr Tightfoot’s tour of the UK and the performances of the tour went well. Public interest was fuelled by an MTV documentary which seemed to portray Mr Tightfoot’s behaviour as increasingly eccentric and erratic.
As the Festival was drawing near Mr Bartons became aware that other promoters were experiencing difficulties with Mr Tightfoot and it was widely reported in the press that the shows planned in the Kings Head in Putney on 24 July 2018 and the Lido Arena in Worthing on 25 July 2018 were cancelled due to Mr Tightfoot’s failure to appear. The music press asserted that he had left the country and an article in the Daily Veil suggested that he had ‘gone on a massive bender’ to the United States and reported an alleged sighting of Mr Tightfoot in California. All of this happened just one week before the Frenchay Festival.
On 1 August 2018, Mr Bartons contacted Mr Stein by telephone requesting that he provide him with re-assurance that Mr Tightfoot would attend both the rehearsal and the Festival itself. Mr Stein assured Mr Bartons that there would be no problems but refused to tell him where he could contact Mr Tightfoot.
The following day Mr Stein was reported in the Daily Veil newspaper as saying that Mr Tightfoot had disappeared, that he had not heard from him for several days and that he had no idea where he was. The same article reported Mr Tightfoot as having been seen at a “Crop Circle and Aliens Conference” being held at the Holiday Inn, San Francisco. With only three days before the Festival and only one day before the scheduled rehearsal, Mr Bartons feared that Mr Tightfoot might fail to attend and began to seek a potential replacement.
After several unhelpful telephone conversations with Mr Tightfoot’s agent, Mr Bartons became concerned that...
