7-1 Final Project: Submit

Subject: Fred’s Miracle Cough Syrup

This memo's objective is to make you aware of any potential legal problems resulting from Jane's theft. I will also give you information on civil claims you might have, the various sorts of commercial bankruptcy lawsuits, and other legal options that could be used to prevent the bankruptcy of Fred's Miracle Cough Syrup.

Legal Defences

For a court to render a verdict, the defendant must have the opportunity to defend oneself against the civil allegations. Common law mandates that the person accused of a crime must present a defence in order to determine whether or not they should be found guilty of the crime. If there is no tangible proof confirming their guilt, the defendants must provide evidence to support their innocence or refute the accusations. In these instances, Jane used a fake check to settle her debts to Don. If Don receives the check, he may charge Fred and Sally of fraud. Since their document is fraudulent, Fred and Sally cannot compensate Don. Given that there is no connection between them, a strong defence against the allegation is likely.

In this instance, Jane is responsible for maintaining company documents. She has no part in business leadership, management, sales, processing, or delivery. Therefore, it is not her function and responsibility to make payments. Due to her lack of integrity and responsibility, she has compromised the organization's ideals by falsifying the check and acting above her authority. A violation of duty is a criminal offense. Consequently, the defendants may assert that Jane behaved as an individual and not as a corporation (Ambos, 2018). The check was meant just for buying of Fred Miracle syrups, but Jane wanted to use it to settle a few of her personal debt. There is no binding official document between Don and Fred. In the absence of an agreement between two parties, there is no contract. Fred and Sally thus are not accountable to Don. Given there was no contract, neither Sally nor Fred received any services from Don. Therefore demonstrating that Fred and Sally are not responsible for Don's civil lawsuits.

Jane was responsible for the gambling obligation, not Fred's business, because she was the one who obtained the service from Don's company. Don should therefore submit the complaint to Jane and not Fred and Sally. Jane also exceeded his authority, thus neither Fred nor Sally are responsible for her acts. Consequently, she should bear the loss as a result of her conduct. Fred and Sally will be victorious in their case since they are in no way responsible to Don (Ambos 2018).

Church

Offerings are contributions or donations made to the church. Therefore, the cheque with Fred and Sally's names that Jane presents in church seemed to be a gift. The cheque was issued without Fred and Sally's permission. Jane fabricated the check, which bears the signatures of Fred and Sally. Hence, the church might sue them for misleading or deceptive conduct over the counterfeit check issue, as it is impossible to determine whether they are being genuine and honest. In this scenario, Fred and Sally might try to disprove the claim by claiming that in order for a payment to be considered legal, it needs to be authorized by the signatory of the account. They must thus show that Jane really did falsify their signatures in order to prove that they are immune from liability and cancel the transaction (Aldulaimy, 2020). They ought to keep the cheque as well as the evidence that Jane attempted to give it to Don but was ineffective. They will prevail in their arguments, resulting in the court penalizing Jane.

Civil Claims against Jane

Jane has caused financial harm to the company through theft and forgery on multiple occasions. Because of their wrongdoing, Fred and Sally have lost all of their business's credibility and can no longer afford to run their operations. It is illegal to create a fake document, especially if it is going to be used fraudulently. Consequently, Fred and Sally have legal grounds to sue Jane for forgery and deception. Sally and Fred are the only authorized signatories for the company bank account (Parness, 2018). Jane has no authority over the company's finances, yet she still made a photocopy of their falsified signatures to use in her transactions. Sally must do a comprehensive assessment of their company's financial accounts in order to uncover any proof that Jane has used faked cheques to pay for her own expenses or without Sally and Fred's permission. Consequently, establishing Jane's liability for fraud. To be successful in their allegations, they need adequate proof against Jane showing that the cheques utilized to help complete these transactions were not approved by the authorized signatories, but instead by an impersonator identifiable as Jane.

Bankruptcy

A large number of companies are forced to declare bankruptcy every year as a result of poor financial management and unforeseen catastrophes. In the event that a firm is unable to pay off its debts, a legal process is initiated in order to seek relief from the full or partial weight of the obligations. In circumstances like this, the most frequently used varieties of bankruptcy are chapter 7 and chapter thirteen. The process of selling off one's possessions is covered in Chapter 7. The sale of the assets is done to satisfy the obligations that have been incurred to the creditors. The liquidation process shall take six months or 180 days from the date of filing for bankruptcy. Once the lawsuit is solved, there should be no more debts, regardless of whether or not all obligations have been paid. In chapter thirteen, home savings, auto savings, and home savings using are discussed. It was suggesting that the issuer of the asset for reimbursement is not invariably the debtor. For this to occur, the debt must have reached a certain threshold, and the court will prolong the debtor's payment period until all debts are paid (United States Courts, 2010). After the conclusion of the case, the debtor retains ownership of the asset.

Effects of Possible Bankruptcy

The company's conversion to sole proprietorship eliminates any impact on personal assets from a prospective business insolvency process. When one individual runs all aspects of a firm, that entity is called a "sole proprietorship" (Foss et al., 2021). All of the initial funding comes from that one source, be it loans or personal wealth. Although the sole proprietor may employ others to help with business choices, he retains ultimate authority. The sole proprietor takes on all the rewards and losses of the company. In addition, a single proprietorship is not considered a separate entity from its owner for legal purposes. Companies and sole proprietors are subject to the same rules and laws. The sole proprietor as well as the business coexist. Therefore, they are same.

Family Assets

A sole proprietorship is a form of business that is owned by an individual and he/she owns all the rights. The proprietor is individually responsible for all debts and obligations incurred by the company (Foss et al., 2021). In the event that the company's assets are insufficient to cover its debts, the owners may be forced to liquidate their personal holdings to do so. As a result, the owner's business and private property may be taken by creditors in the event of non-payment of bills. In the event that the entity goes bankrupt, these may have an effect on the property of family members even though they do not control the business.

Intellectual Property

Sam decided against pressing forward with moving into an elite supply deal with Bob, the proprietor of a home drugstore. Bob's temper flared up, and he went back to using the modified cough syrup strategies. After some time, Bob posted the method for exacting revenge online. In the event that Bob violates Fred's intellectual property rights, Fred can file a lawsuit against Bob in the form of copyright infringement or patent infringement.

Businesses and corporations take steps to protect their copyright interests by registering existing works and producing new ones. If interested parties are willing to pay for the owners' products or enter into licensing agreements, they can gain permission to use the copied works (Savelyev, 2018). Nonetheless, there are a number of factors that can make it easier for third parties to infringe, such as a shortage of supply channels for the protected work or a rise in the price of permitted works. As a result, copyright infringement occurs when content protected by copyright laws and regulations is used without permission from the content's owner.

Once an organization has applied for and been awarded a patent for an invention, they have exclusive rights to that invention and can prevent anyone from making, using, or selling it. Companies or individuals who carry out these actions without authorization are infringing on the rights of the patent's rightful owner. Hence, patent infringement occurs when one sells or uses a patented invention without the owner's consent. Direct and indirect infringements of patents can occur in a number of different ways. Infringing can include, for instance, willful infringement upon the patent rights of a competitor (Kim & Yoon, 2021). The infringer is aware of the firm's patent yet chooses to ignore it anyhow. The infringement may make use of all of the firm's claimed patent inventions. Consequently, Fred will win his case against Bob for patent and copyright violation. Bob published Fred's secret recipe for cough syrup without Fred's knowledge or permission, leading to this.

Intellectual property takes the form of trade secrets, which are a type of confidential business procedures that are not disclosed to anyone who are not affiliated with the firm. This method is considered a competitive advantage because it was developed in-house thanks to research and development efforts (Frankenfield, 2021). Based on the evidence presented in the court, Bob divulged the recipe for the cough syrup without first obtaining permission from the manufacturer, which led to the exposure of a significant commercial secret. If information had inherent economic value, then the United States government classifies it as a trade secret.

References

Aldulaimy, F. (2020). Exceeds the limits of the right to legal defense under international law. alrafidain of law,  22(70). ISSN: 1648-1819 (Print)