Questions and Answers of Legal Environment Business

Question: The Monroes, a retired couple who live in Illinois, want to move to Arizona, to escape the northern winter. In May, the Monroes contract in writing to sell their house to the Temples for
Question: Colony Park Associates signed a contract to buy 44 acres of residential land from John Gall. The contract stated that closing would take place exactly one year later. The delay was to
Question: Mr. and Ms. Beard contracted for Builder to construct a house on property he owned, and sell it to the Beards for $785,000. The house was to be completed by a certain date, and Builder knew
Question: The National Football League (NFL) owns the copyright to the broad- casts of its games. It licenses local television stations to telecast certain games and maintains a "blackout rule,"
1. Evans built a house for Sandra Dyer, but the house had some problems. The garage ceiling was too low. Load-bearing beams in the "great room" cracked and appeared to be steadily weakening. The
2. Omega Concrete had a gravel pit and factory. Access was difficult, so Omega contracted with Union Pacific Railroad (UP) for the right to use a private road that crossed UP property and tracks. The
3. YOU BE THE JUDGE WRITING PROBLEM Kuhn Farm Machinery, a European company, signed an agreement with Scottsdale Plaza Resort, of Arizona, to rent 190 guest rooms for its North American dealers'
4. Racicky was in the process of buying 320 acres of ranch land. While that sale was being negotiated, Racicky signed a contract to sell the land to Simon. Simon paid $144,000, the full price of the
5. ETHICS Review the facts in Chapter Review #10, just above, describes a dispute that the National Football League had with certain bars that were broadcasting its games. Review the facts. Was it
6. ROLE REVERSAL Write a short-answer question that highlights the difference between compensatory and consequential damages.
You represent a group of neighborhood residents in a large city who are protesting construction of a skyscraper that will violate building height limitations. Draft a complaint, requesting an
Question: Marko, a sporting goods retailer, speaks on the phone with Wholesaler about buying 500 footballs. After the conversation, Marko handwrites this message: "Confirming our discussion-you will
Question: Martin, a diamond wholesaler, writes Serge, a jewelry retailer, offering to sell 75 specified diamonds for $2 million. Martin's offer sheet specifies the price, quantity, date of delivery,
Question: Warm, Inc. sells large, portable space heaters for industrial use. Warm sells Little Factory a unit and installs it. The sales contract states, "This heating unit is sold as is. There are
Question: To satisfy the UCC statute of frauds regarding the sale of goods, which of the following must generally be in writing? a. Designation of the parties as buyer and seller b. Delivery terms c.
Question: Cookie Co. offered to sell Distrib Markets 20,000 pounds of cookies at $1.00 per pound, subject to certain specified terms for delivery. Distrib replied in writing as follows: "We accept
1. Nina owns a used car lot. She signs and sends a fax to Seth, a used car wholesaler who has a huge lot of cars in the same city. The fax says, "Confiming our agrmt-I pick any 15 cars fr yr lot-30%
2. YOU BE THE JUDGE WRITING PROBLEM United Technologies advertised a used Beechcraft Baron airplane for sale in an aviation journal. Attorney Thompson Comerford spoke with a United agent who
3. ETHICS Texaco, Inc., and other oil companies sold mineral spirits in bulk to distributors, which then resold to retailers. Mineral spirits are used for cleaning and are harmful or fatal if
4. CPA QUESTION Which of the following factors is least important in determining whether a manufacturer is strictly liable in tort for a defective product? a. The negligence of the manufacturer b.
5. Lewis River Golf, Inc., grew and sold sod. It bought seed from defendant, O. M. Scott & Sons, under an express warranty. But the sod grown from the Scott seeds developed weeds, a breach of Scott's
6. CPA QUESTION To establish a cause of action based on strict liability in tort for personal injuries resulting from using a defective product, one of the elements the plaintiff must prove is that
7. ROLE REVERSAL Write a multiple-choice question that contrasts the common-law rules of contract formation with those of UCC 2-204.
Look at http://www.insure.com/auto/. Which cars are safer than average? Less safe? How important is auto safety to you? Are you willing to pay more for a safe car? Who should be the final judge of
Question: The Big Red Traveling (BRT) Carnival is in town. Tony arrives at 8:00 p.m., parks in the lot and is robbed at gunpoint by a man who beats him and escapes with his money. There are several
Question: The stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed were caused in part because so many investors blindly put their money into stocks they knew nothing about. During the
Question: Bill and Diane are hiking in the woods. Diane walks down a hill to fetch fresh water. Bill meets a stranger, who introduces herself as Katrina. Bill sells a kilo of cocaine to Katrina, who
Question: Under Indian custom, many families pay a staggering dowry when their daugh- ters marry. To avoid this burdensome debt, hundreds of thousands of pregnant women each year pay for an
Strategy: Look at the ethics checklist. Citizens of China are stakeholders of American companies. Although it is legal to buy fabric from a company that is polluting overseas, this is surely
In the fall of 2008, the nation fell into its worst economic slump in a generation. The stock market lost half its value. Many companies cut salaries and laid off workers. The unemployment rate
Question: Rap artist Ice-T and his band, Body Count, recorded a song called "Cop Killer," in which the singer gleefully anticipates slitting a policeman's throat. (The lyrics to this song are readily
Question: Mark has sued his next-door neighbor, Janelle, based on the state common law of negligence. He is testifying in court, explaining how Janelle backed a rented truck out of her driveway and
Question: You are a judge. Mel has sued Kevin, claiming that while Kevin was drunk, he negligently drove his car down Mel's street, and destroyed rare trees on a lot that Mel owns, next to his house.
Question: You are a lawyer, representing the plaintiff in a case of alleged employment discrimination. The court is selecting a jury. Based on questions you have asked, you believe that juror number
You may be called for jury duty before long. Find a summary of the juror's responsibilities on the Internet. Some people try hard to get out of jury duty. Why is that a problem in a democratic
Jason and the toddler present a classic legal puzzle: What, if anything, must a bystander do when he sees someone in danger? We will examine this issue to see how the common law works. The common law
Question: Sam had a checking account at Piggy Bank. Piggy sent him special checks that he could use to draw down a line of credit. When he used these checks, Piggy did not take money out of his
Question: Antoine makes a check out to cash and delivers it to Barley. He writes on the back, "Pay to the order of Charlotte." She signs her name. Is this check bearer paper or order paper? Has it
Question: For three weeks in a row, Peyton wrote a check to his yoga instructor, Eli. Unfortunately, each week Eli changed the amount of the check from $50 to $150 before depositing it. Because of
Question: When a man robbed a convenience store, he locked the clerk in the bathroom and took her purse. Forty minutes later, he used her ATM card to withdraw $500 from a bank and her checkbook to
Question: After Irene Nusor fell behind on her mortgage payments, she answered an advertisement from Best Financial Consultants offering attractive refinancing oppor- tunities. During a meeting at a
Question: Gina and Douglas Felde purchased a Chrysler car with a 70,000-mile warranty. They signed a loan contract with the dealer to pay for the car in monthly installments. The dealer sold the
Question: An employee lost her paycheck and did not find it for 19 years (okay, her house was a tad untidy). Nothing on the check said that it must be cashed within a certain amount of time. Is this
Question: Begg & Daigle, Inc., wrote a check for $31,989.80 to Newwall Interior Partitions, Inc. Begg then asked Chemical Bank to stop payment on the check. In November, the bank accidentally paid
1. Shelby wrote the check shown below to Dana. When is it payable and for how much? SHELBY CASE 3020 CREST DRIVE ALVIN, TX PAY TO THE Dana Locke ORDER OF Three Hundred Eighty-Two LAST NATIONAL BANK
2. In the prior question, who are the drawer, drawee, and payee of this check?
3. Giggle, Inc. writes a check to Computer Co. to pay for a truckload of hard drives. The next day, Giggle discovers that all the boxes on the truck are filled with bricks. The company asks its bank
4. Catherine Wagner suffered serious physical injuries in an automobile accident and became acutely depressed as a result. One morning, she received a check for $17,400 in settlement of her claims
5. Sam Kay signed a promissory note for $220,000 that was payable to Investments, S.A., Inc., a company of which he was the principal stockholder. The company then indorsed the note over to its
6. CPA QUESTION In order to negotiate bearer paper, one must: a. Indorse the paper b. Indorse and deliver the paper with consideration c. Deliver the paper d. Deliver and indorse the paper
7. On June 30, John N. Willis signed a demand promissory note for $1,620 to the Camelot Country Club in Carrollton, Texas. The note stated that it was being given in payment for a membership in the
8. Hassan Qassemzadeh had an account at the IBM Poughkeepsie Employees Federal Credit Union. On December 1, he wrote a check for $9.60, which was altered and subsequently cashed for $9,000.60. In
9. Barry Minkow founded ZZZZ Best, a publicly traded carpet cleaning company. The company had a $5 million line of credit from Prudential Bache. Sheri Elowsky
10. CPA QUESTION In general, which of the following statements is correct conceming the priority among checks drawn on a particular account and presented to the drawee bank on a particular day? a.
11. Rev. Janet Hooper Ritchie knew that the shoe store at Buckland Hills mall in Manchester, Connecticut, would not accept a Discover credit card, so she stopped at an ATM for a $100 cash advance.
12. ROLE REVERSAL: Write a multiple-choice question that raises the issue of an instrument's negotiability.
Go to http://www.legaldocs.com (or an equivalent site) and fill in the blanks of a promissory note. Who is the maker, and who is the payee of your note? Did you create a demand note?
Question: Winona owns a tropical fish store. To buy a spectacular new tank, she borrows $25,000 from her sister, Pauline, and signs an agreement giving Pauline a security interest in the tank.
1. Can one person really understand all of the legal issues mentioned at the beginning of this chapter? For example, can a business executive know about insider trading and employment law and
2. Why does our law come from so many different sources?
3. Union organizers at a hospital wanted to distribute leaflets to potential union members, but hospital rules prohibited leafleting in areas of patient care, hallways, cafeterias, and any areas open
4. Leslie Bergh and his two brothers, Milton and Raymond, formed a partnership to help build a fancy saloon and dance hall in Evanston, Wyoming. Later, Leslie met with his friend and drinking buddy,
5. ETHICS Confucius did not esteem written laws, believing instead that good rulers were the best guarantee of justice. Does our legal system rely primarily on the rule of law or the rule of people?
6. Tommy Parker may have been involved in some unsavory activities as an officer in a failed savings and loan institution. A federal agency, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), ordered Tommy not
7. Plaintiff Miss Universe, Inc., owns the trademark "Miss U.S.A." For decades, the company has produced the Miss U.S.A. beauty pageant, seen by many millions of people in the United States. William
8. YOU BE THE JUDGE WRITING PROBLEM Should trials be televised? Here are a few arguments to add to those in the chapter. You be the judge. Arguments against Live Television Coverage: We have tried
9. In his most famous novel, The Red and the Black, the French author Stendhal (1783-1842) wrote: "There is no such thing as 'natural law': this expression is nothing but old nonsense. Prior to laws,
10. ROLE REVERSAL The Role Reversal feature challenges you to create your own exam question. The goal is to think creatively and accurately. Crafting questions is a good way to reinforce what you
Question: Marvin asks Sheila, a qualified auto mechanic, to fix his engine, which constantly stalls (stops) while driving. When Marvin returns, Sheila informs him that the engine is now "Perfect-runs
1. A Harvard Business School alumna told this story about her life as an MBA student in the 1980s: During the spring of my first year, I took a Business Policy class. One of the young men in the
2. Joya is the head of the personal insurance division of a large insurance company. Six months before, she was almost promoted to vice-president, but she lost out to Bill, a colleague from another
3. Executives were considering the possibility of moving their company to a different state. They wanted to determine if employees would be willing to relocate, but they did not want the employees to
4. Mark is an executive for a multinational office equipment company that would like to enter the potentially vast Chinese market. The official tariffs on office equipment imported into China are so
5. H. B. Fuller Co. of St. Paul is a leading manufacturer of industrial glues. Its mission statement says the company "will conduct business legally and ethically." It has endowed a university chair
6. According to the Electronic Industries Association, questionable returns have become the toughest problem plaguing the consumer electronics industry. Some consumers purchase electronic equipment
7. Six months ago, Todd, David, and Stacey joined a large, prestigious accounting firm in Houston. On paper, these three novices look similar and each graduated from a top MBA program. All three were
8. Genentech, Inc., manufactured Protropin, a genetically engineered version of the human growth hormone. This drug's purpose was to enhance the growth of short children. Protropin was an important
9. ROLE REVERSAL Write one or two paragraphs that could be used as an essay question describing an ethical dilemma that you have faced in your own life.
1. You plan to open a store in Chicago, specializing in beautiful rugs imported from Turkey. You will work with a native Turk who will purchase and ship the rugs to your store. You are wise enough to
2. State which court(s) have jurisdiction as to each of these lawsuits: (a) Pat wants to sue his next-door neighbor, Dorothy, claiming that Dorothy promised to sell him the house next door. (b)
3. Probationary schoolteachers sued the New Madrid, Missouri, school district, claiming that the school district refused to give them permanent jobs because of their union organizing activity. The
4. Students are now suing schools for sexual harassment. The cases raise important issues about the limits of discovery. In a case in Petaluma, California, a girl claimed that she was harassed for
5. British discovery practice differs from that in the United States. Most discovery in Britain concerns documents. The lawyers for the two sides, called solicitors, must deliver to the opposing side
6. ETHICS Trial practice also is dramatically different in Britain. The parties' solicitors do not go into court. Courtroom work is done by different lawyers, called barristers. The barristers have
7. Claus Scherer worked for Rockwell International and was paid over $300,000 per year. Rockwell fired Scherer for alleged sexual harassment of several workers, including his secretary, Terry Pendy.
8. Lloyd Dace worked for ACF Industries as a supervisor in the punchpress department of a carburetor factory. ACF demoted Dace to an hourly job on the assembly line, and
9. ROLE REVERSAL Write a multiple-choice question that illustrates the unique significance of summary judgment: that there is no need for a trial because there are no essential facts in dispute.
You may be called for jury duty before long. Find a summary of the juror's responsibilities on the Internet. Some people try hard to get out of jury duty. Why is that a problem in a democratic
Jason and the toddler present a classic legal puzzle: What, if anything, must a bystander do when he sees someone in danger? We will examine this issue to see how the common law works. The common law
Question: Kelly Hackworth took a leave of absence from her job at Progressive Insurance, to care for her ailing mother. When she offered to return, Progressive refused to give her the same job or one
Question: Builder wants to develop 1,000 acres in rural Montana, land that is home to the Kite Owl. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that the Kite Owl is an endangered species, and
1. COMMON LAW The common law evolves in awkward fits and starts because courts attempt to achieve two contradictory purposes: predictability and flexibility. (p. 76)
2. STARE DECISIS Stare decisis means "let the decision stand," and indicates that once a court has decided a particular issue, it will generally apply the same rule in future cases. (p. 76)
3. BYSTANDER RULE The common law bystander rule holds that, generally, no one has a duty to assist someone in peril unless the bystander himself created the danger. Courts have carved some exceptions
4. LEGISLATION Bills originate in congressional committees and go from there to the full House of Representatives or Senate. If both houses pass the bill, the legislation normally must go to a
5. STATUTORY INTERPRETATION Courts interpret a statute by using the plain meaning rule; then, if necessary, legislative history and intent; and finally, if necessary, public policy. (p. 84)
Question: Whitfield, who was black, worked for Ohio Edison. Edison fired him, but then later offered to rehire him. Another employee argued that Edison's original termination of Whitfield had been
6. MONEY Campaign contributions and spending are largely uncontrolled.
7. ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES Congress creates federal administrative agencies with enabling legislation. The Administrative Procedure Act controls how agencies do their work. (p. 90)
8. RULEMAKING Agencies may promulgate legislative rules, which generally have the effect of statutes, or interpretive rules, which merely interpret existing statutes. (p. 91)

Showing 300 - 400 of 581