Elements of a Contract

week_2.docx

Home >Human Resource Management homework help >Elements of a Contract

Learning Outcomes This week students will:

1. Examine the elements of negligence and tort liability.

2. Compare appropriate punishment for corporations that commit crimes with appropriate punishment for persons who commit crimes that harm businesses.

3. Apply consumer protection law to a business situation.

Introduction

This week focuses on study of torts, criminal law, and consumer protection law (specifically, product liability). These are each different substantive areas of law that are relevant to business and business persons.

Students will distinguish between criminal law and torts, including negligence and intentional torts. Students will also compare the differences between corporations that commit crimes and persons who commit crimes that harm businesses, and they will take a position regarding which presents the greatest threat to civil society, using current events to support their positions. In addition, students will also consider product liability arising from poorly regulated imports, and the impact of potential liability on U.S. companies. Students will also consider product recalls as a preemptory measure to mitigation liability. Students will identify and discuss the elements of negligence and a consumer protection statute.

By the end of Week Two, students should understand the difference between crimes and torts, between negligence and intentional torts, and how the issue of product liability impacts businesses and consumers.

Required Resources Required Text

1. Please read the following chapters in: Business Law for Managers:

a. Chapter 6: Criminal Law

b. Chapter 7: Intentional Torts

c. Chapter 8: Negligence and Strict Liability

Multimedia

1. Chinese Imports & Food Safety - PBS Newshour - YouTube. (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Retrieved October 19, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BKe70AAU_lc

Websites

1. United States Consumer Product Safety Commission . (http://www.cpsc.gov/)

Discussions To participate in the following discussions, go to this week's Discussion link in the left navigation.

1. Crimes That Harm Business Versus Crimes Committed by Business

Which do you believe presents the greatest threat to civil society: A corporation that commits crimes (e.g., murder, environmental crimes, bribery, etc.), or persons who commit crimes that harm businesses (e.g., embezzlement, fraud, larceny, etc.)? Defend your response, using at least one example from current events.

Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your fellow students’ postings in a substantive manner. Some ways to do this include the following, though you may choose a different approach, providing your response is substantive: Review the postings made by your peers.

In response to your peers, first identify a non-traditional or “creative” way in which a corporation, as a legal person, might be punished for committing a crime. Then discuss the consequences of implementing that punishment to the example used by your peer.

2. Product Liability

After viewing Chinese Imports & Food Safety Video, consider whether U.S. retailers that utilize products or raw ingredients that are imported from China and that are poorly regulated should be liable in tort for injuries to consumers who are harmed by those products. Answer parts 1 and 2 of the following question:

1. Answer part a or part b

a. If U.S. companies should not be liable, then they could be legally exempt from tort liability. Discuss the consequences of such a policy to U.S. consumers. b. If the U.S. companies should be liable, then those companies would not be legally exempt from tort liability. Discuss the consequences of such a policy to U.S. businesses.

2. Regardless of your response to part 1 of this question, assume that U.S. retailers do have legal liability for defective products. What steps could U.S. retailers and manufacturers take, when using products imported from China that would minimize their liability exposure? For example, they could warn consumers about the potential, though speculative, dangers when using products comprised of poorly regulated ingredients or components. Given your strategy, what challenges would exist for U.S. businesses that implemented your strategy?

Assignment To complete the following assignment, go to this week's Assignment link in the left navigation.

Negligent Tort

Visit the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission website. Click on Recalls. Choose one product that has been recalled.

1. Describe the product subject to recall, including the recall date, recall number, and the reason for the recall.

2. Analyze whether the manufacturer would be liable for negligence if the product had not been recalled and had caused harm to a consumer.

3. Discusses the following in relation to the product recall::

a. Duty of Care

b. Standard of Care

c. Breach of the Duty of Care

d. Actual Causation

e. Proximate Causation

f. Actual Injury

g. Defenses to Negligence

4. Analyze and apply a relevant consumer protection statute identified under “Consumer Protection” in Chapter 8 of your text in conjunction with the product recall that you have identified.Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.

Submit a four- to five-page paper (not including title and reference pages). Your paper must be formatted according to APA style as outlined in the approved APA style guide and must cite at least three scholarly sources in addition to the textbook. Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Learning Outcomes This week students will:

1. Describe contract formation and enforcement.

2. Describe how governmental agencies hinder or foster business activities.

3. Distinguish between the common law and the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).

4. Examine governmental regulation of business as it relates to the greater good.

Introduction

This week focuses on study of contracts and governmental regulation as it relates to business. Contracts law is a substantive area of law that is relevant to business and business persons. Governmental regulation of business activities arises from statutory and administrative law, and it is also relevant to business.

Students will learn the elements of contract formation, and they will develop the capacity to distinguish between the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and common law governed contracts, as well as the importance differences between contracts governed by those two different types of law.

Students will also consider governmental regulation as it relates to the greater good as well as to business activities.

By the end of Week Three, students should understand the difference between common law contracts and contracts governed by the UCC. Additionally, students will understand how administrative law relates to business, and some of the trade-offs between promoting business activities and protecting consumers.

Required Resources Required Text

1. Please read the following chapters in: Business Law for Managers:

a. Chapter 5: Administrative Law

b. Chapter 9: Contracts, Part I: Introduction and Formation

c. Chapter 10: Contracts, Part II: The U.C.C.

d. Chapter 11: Contracts, Part III: Risk of Loss Rules, Negotiating Contracts, and Working with an Attorney

Multimedia

1. The Crisis of Credit Visualized on Vimeo. (n.d.). Vimeo, Your Videos Belong Here. Retrieved October 19, 2012, from http://vimeo.com/3261363

Discussions To participate in the following discussions, go to this week's Discussion link in the left navigation.

1. Regulation and the Greater Good

After viewing The Credit Crisis Visualized at http://vimeo.com/3261363, answer each of the following parts of this question:

1. How could government regulations have prevented or mitigated the credit crisis of 2008? 2. Discuss whether too much governmental regulation of business or too little governmental regulation of business presents the greater danger to:

a. the greater good b. business

Agree or disagree with other students’ positions. Defend your position by using information from the week’s readings.

2. Administrative Law and Business Administrative Law and Business. Some argue that government needs to increase its regulation of business for the good of society as a whole, while others believe that the marketplace is self-regulating and that government intervention through needless regulation places an unfair, costly burden on businesses generally and small businesses in par¬ticular. What role do you believe government regulation should play to ensure ethical conduct by businesses? How do different political viewpoints potentially shape the answer to this question?

Agree or disagree with your classmate’s position. Defend your position by using information from the week’s readings or examples from current events.

Assignment To complete the following assignment, go to this week's Assignment link in the left navigation.

Elements of a Contract

Suppose that the Fabulous Hotel hires you as head chef under a two-year employment contract. After two years, another hotel wants to hire you. However, in the original employment contract you signed with the Fabulous Hotel, the following paragraph appears:

“The below-signed agrees not to work as a chef for another hotel in the same metropolitan area for a period of two years after leaving our employ.”

1. Describe and analyze the five elements of a contract that must exist for this agreement to be enforceable.

2. Explain why this contract is governed by common law or the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).

3. Examine at least two circumstances in which this non-compete agreement would be unenforceable.