Contract Law

Contract Law Introduction In the following case note I will examine the High Court case; Smart Telecom Plc. V Radio Teilefis Eireann & Glanbia Plc. [2006] IEHC 176. The essence of this case is one involving a request for tenders put forward by RTE for sponsorship and the subsequent refusal of Smart Telecom’s referential bid thereto. The questions raised were (1) whether referential bidding was a permissible term of RTE’s offer and (2) if not, were they were obliged to re-tender the contract for failure to inform Smart as such and equally liable for break of contract. Mr. Justice Kelly ruled against Smart Telecom, upholding the judgment made in The Harvela Case (1986) – one with very similar facts. Both Kelly J. and Lord Templeman shared the view that where there is an expressed contractual promise to accept the highest bid – that excludes referential bidding. And that RTE had no obligation to reiterate terms of contract to Smart - as there were no alterations to those existing terms. I expressly agree with these judgments. There has been a large amount of consistency in the prior case law in this area with which I will make reference to prominent cases from Wales (1898) and New York (1982). Logical methods of deduction were employed by Kelly J. in Smart v RTE with due concern for the true intention for the vendor. This type of consideration I believe to be apt and of paramount importance in the interest fairness and transparency regard to all parties involved; the vendors, the tenders and the nature of competition itself – a style which has rendered this an area of the law unchallenged for almost a century.

Facts 1. RTE invited bids for sponsorship to four interested parties (two of whom were Smart and Glanbia) summoning their best offers as sealed bids and expressly promising to sell to the highest bidder. The bids were to be confidential and opened at a specific time in tandem. 2. It was specifically stated that there was a competitive