You must present a logical argument on three questions regarding the issues using what we have learned in the text, including references to cases that pertain to the issues. You next written assignment will require you to write on three different questions. As I told you early on, you are my associate's attorney as head legal counsel for Viking Door Fixtures Co., located just down the street; you work directly for me. The CEO and management team has brought to me a situation(s) that I need to respond to. This should be a two-page overview. If it must go a little longer, that is fine, but remember this should be a general overview of some potential legal issues we may have as a company. Below you will have a complete description of the issue as presented by our CEO Martha Painrump (long but necessary), so you can understand the potential issues we face. All the information regarding Viking Store Fixtures and our Ultra-Light and Magnum lines will be true throughout the rest of the semester. Some things will be added as we progress. Dear Tom: We have some issues that we have become aware of recently, and we need some legal advice, so we can develop a strategy as to how we deal with it. As you know, we released our "Ultra-Light" door fixture line two years ago. Designed for residential use. They are designed to be used on doors that weigh up to 50 pounds. They are far more inexpensive than our "Magnum" commercial line of products. We manufacture our Ultra-Light products at our plants in Leesville, North Carolina, and in Pashky, India. The Ultra-Light line is made from "Sleek 99 Carbon Fiber" manufactured by Shady Composites Co. in East Cupcake, Nebraska. We sell Ultra-Light in major chain stores, including Home Depot, Lowes, and Walmart. We sell direct via our website, and our distributor Hardware Plus out of Scranton, Pennsylvania, sells these products to smaller hardware chains and construction supply companies. We contract with Close Watch Inspectional Services, Inc., based in Chelsea, Massachusetts, for all our quality control inspections as well as the production process. We also have an online direct sales program that sells to door manufacturers and large construction companies and building supply stores used primarily by smaller building companies. During the last two years, we have been receiving complaints about Ultra-Light failures in virtually every state and country we sell the line in. Although no extreme injuries have resulted from these failures, there have been hospitalizations from injuries blamed on Ultra-Light fixtures. Federal standards set the rejection rate at 0-15 units per 10,000 as they come off our production line. This standard has been adopted across the world, including India. Our standard rate of rejection has always been no more than 5 per 10,000, but Ultra-Light does fail at a higher rate of 8.5 out of 10,000. There have been some concerns expressed by our employees as to the rejection rate. Those concerns relate to the use of Sleek 99 Carbon Fiber. Unfortunately, using any heavier steel or composite would be far too expensive to produce and render the Ultra-Light line to be produced to be affordable to the general consumer. Some people have suggested that we sell our Magnum line alongside Ultra-Light, so the consumers have the option to purchase the significantly more expensive for doors over 50 lbs. Again, this could have a substantial impact on our bottom line in terms of profits for our shareholders. Here are some of my questions and concerns: 1. What type of lawsuits could we find ourselves exposed to regarding the failures due to Ultra-Light as well as our production of Ultra-Light? 2. What do you see as our exposure to damages? 3. What venues (courts and jurisdictions might lawsuits be filed? 4. If this problem stems from our facility in India, could we be sued here in the United States? If so, how? 5. What kind of ethical obligations come into play, and what business responsibilities do we have? 6. Who could be held liable here? Do our shareholders have any exposure? 7. What if our employees expose the issues with Ultra-Light? Could they sue us? 8. What kind of liability do we have here, and who else could be sued? Who is ultimately responsible for any damages we might be exposed to? 9. Hopefully, none of this is deemed intentional or negligent, but if interpreted as such, what implications will that have? 10. I don't want to go to jail. Could I? Can our company get charged? 11. Ultra-Light hit the market on January 1, 2001. I believe we started seeing injuries to customers in February, but I am not sure of that. Does that help us? 12. What bothers me is that we put a warning on the back of our packaging on the bottom. Close Watch Inspectional has reviewed every claim, and it would seem they are on doors that weigh more than 50 lbs. What does that do for us?