BUS $307$ Milestone One Guidelines and Rubric

Milestone One is the first part of the final project. It provides you with the opportunity to present an analysis of the legal and ethical issues involved in a hypothetical business scenario. You will apply the discipline$-$specific knowledge necessary to successfully address real$-$world business situations such as business formation and management, liability issues, and compliance with government and industry regulations. You will also effectively communicate issues and facts to peers and professionals. You will evaluate and make recommendations to avoid future issues and address relevant legal issues. These skills are integral in both our personal and professional lives.

Prompt

For Milestone One, craft a professional memo to your clients Javier and Elena with your preliminary thoughts on their case. Your memo should illustrate the issues and relevant law, apply the facts, and support your conclusions for each issue. Your memo should be appropriate in format, tone, and content for this purpose. Always remember to be clear, kind, and professional in your communications.

You will receive feedback on this milestone. After receiving your feedback, make the necessary revisions and include them in your final project submission.

Case Study $1$

Javier is well$-$known in his town for his homemade salsa picante, also known as hot sauce. After years of encouragement, he has decided to take his product to market as $$Javier$$s Very Hot Sauce!$$ The label includes the subheading $$It just might kill you!$$ The sauce is made with an extremely spicy hot pepper that can cause eyes to water and, in rare instances, abdominal pain and cramping.

Javier plans to make and bottle his hot sauce in a large outbuilding on his $50-$acre property. Javier and his wife, Elena, have two children: a son, Antonio, and a daughter, Maria. Maria does not work for the business. Javier expects Antonio to be involved with the business now, though. He even presented Antonio with an option to make him a partial owner at a later date.

Antonio has been promoting the product for commercial sale. As a result, several local restaurants and grocers have placed orders with Javier. Antonio also intends to approach several national chains to secure supply contracts for Javier$$s hot sauce. Javier has asked Antonio to assist him with sales and deliveries by using Antonio$$s van.

Both Antonio and Maria live with their spouses and children in homes built on their father$$s property. Javier has told them they both will inherit the property in equal shares.

Javier and Elena engage you as their business consultant to assist with the formation of their new business. This includes determining the appropriate business entity type, management issues, product liability issues, and estate planning for both the business and family property. While you are not an attorney, you are very familiar with the many legal details and nuances that need to be addressed before Javier goes further with his plan. After your initial meeting, you identify and research the following issues.

Specifically, address the following rubric criteria in your memo to Javier and Elena:

Describe the main types of business entities and their defining characteristics.

Apply product liability law to determine issues and recommend mitigating actions.

How would you advise your client to mitigate those issues?

Apply the elements and characteristics of an agency relationship to actions. Determine if an agency relationship was created and if it provides justification.

Does Antonio$$s involvement prior to the business formation, and his anticipated role once the business is formed, create an agency relationship?

Why, or why not?

Identify potential real property issues based on the location of the business on the family property and provide justification for each.

Determine if the manufacture process of Javier$$s Very Hot Sauce! on the family property necessitates a formal transfer of ownership or possessory rights, and defend your response.

Identify potential personal property issues based on the use of Antonio$$s personal vehicle to deliver the product, and justify each potential issue.

Determine if the use of a personal vehicle exposes Antonio or the business to any liability issues.

Does the use of his personal vehicle in the course of business expose Antonio or the business to any liability issues?

Defend your response.

Identify potential estate planning issues, and provide justification for each potential issue.

Identify potential estate planning issues regarding the business and the family property.

Justify each potential issue.

Determine what estate planning vehicles are available to transfer ownership between two parties and provide advantages and disadvantages to each.

What estate planning vehicles are available to Javier and Elena if they want to transfer ownership of the business and family

What are the advantages an