Dynamic Business Law

1. List the purposes of the law and discuss why these purposes are necessary for an ordered society.

One function of the law is to provide order to the society hence enhancing civilization; secondly, it encourages social justice to the community thus ensuring each individual is treated equally and receives equal privileges within the society thirdly, By protecting liberties and rights it ensures each individual is allowed his/her freedoms and constitutional rights it ensures personal freedoms are guaranteed. It also serves as a moral guide as one is able to identify the type of behaviours that are not acceptable in society. Lastly, it facilitates a sense that change in the society is possible; hence disputes can not only be solved in court systems but through less formal methods, i.e. mediation and arbitration.

2. Define “Stare decisis.” And discuss how it is applied

Stare decisis is defined as a legal principle that obligates courts to follow historical cases when making a ruling on a similar situation.it means that courts look to past, related issues to guide their decisions. The past decisions are known as precedent; a legal principle or rule that is created by a court decision. This decision becomes an example, or authority, for judges deciding similar issues later. (Study.com)

Chapter 2: Business Ethics

3. Assume you are starting a new company. Write a code of ethics for the firm.

Code of ethics is a guide of principles designed to help professionals conduct business honestly and with integrity. Assuming I start a new company which deals with media and research, the code of ethics will include: Always seek the truth and present it: One should be honest and fair in gathering and analyzing of information. Ensure the information published/written is accurate. Also One should act independently: employees should remain free of obligations other than the public’s right to learn they should not accept gifts if they would compromise their integrity. Lastly, One should be accountable:  researchers should clarify and explain their information and should admit mistakes done and correct them promptly.

4. What does a reference to the “social responsibility of business” mean?

Social responsibility of business means that a business/company should meet the expectations imposed to them by the community around the company. Yes, companies should consider community expectations; this is because the community will always be present. If the business ignores the community expectations, then the community members are likely to retaliate or take action towards the company. For a company or industry to survive and grow, it needs support from the community. If the company is pleasant to the community, then the members of the community will be more than willing to help you grow.

Chapter 3: The U.S Legal System

5. 5. Rosalba asks you whether she can sue in federal court. What would you tell her, and why?

I= Issue: Does the U.S Legal System allow Rosalba a resident of New Mexico to sue Pet Food Company, Inc., a company incorporated in Delaware at a federal court?

R= Rule: The U.S Legal System states that diversity of citizenship, when the plaintiff and defendant reside in different states and amount in controversy is more than $75,000. Diversity must be complete.  Defendants have the right to remove cases from state to federal court.

A= Analysis: Champ was a source of income to Rosalba. It also deserved good and healthy food. Pet Food Company, Inc. should always double-check their products before releasing them to their consumers. Rosalba had no knowledge that would have enabled her to realize the dog food was poisoned/bad. She incurred damages amounting to $100,000.00 due to bad dog food from the Pet food Company, Inc.

C= Conclusion: Yes, because if the pet food company had double-checked their product before realizing it to the consumers, the dog would still be healthy.

6. Discuss the items that should appear in a complaint

According to the (Legal Information Institute), a complaint is a document that sets forth a jurisdictional basis for the court’s power, the plaintiff’s cause of action, and a demand for judicial relief. According to (United States court for the district of Utah) Items includes Caption and Heading which includes lists name, address and telephone number of the filing attorney or self-representing litigant at the top of the complaint. The case caption usually also indicates the court in which the case originates, names of the parties and a brief description of the document. The complaint also includes a Jurisdiction and venue which describes why the case should be heard in the selected court rather than some other court or forum.it also contains a call of action which is a numbered list of legal allegations with specific details about the application of the governing law to each count other items include Parties which identifies plaintiffs and defendants, injury where plaintiff explains to the judge how the actions of the defendant(s) harmed his/her rights, Statement of facts which is a list of facts that brought the case to the court. And a demand for relief which describes the relief that the plaintiff is seeking as a result of the lawsuit. The relief can include a request for declaratory judgment, a request for injunctive relief (non-monetary relief), compensatory and actual damages (such as monetary relief), punitive damages (non-compensatory), and other relief.

7. What would you suggest that she do in civil litigation? Why is it important that Sonja proceeds correctly and promptly at this point in the litigation?

I= Issue: Is Sonja right to do nothing when Hank sues her for striking her yet there is evidence which can prove that the car brakes failed without warning?

R= Rule: The U.S Legal system allows initiation of litigation when the plaintiff has the standing to sue, there is a justiciable controversy, and when the case is ripe for trial.

A= Analysis: Civil Litigation will allow correction of all information/pieces of evidence that regard to the case. For the pre-trial Sonja will have a chance to defend her case thus leading to the trial stage where she will present her evidence at the post-trial and a motion for a new trial will be set and the judge will give his/her decision. If all steps of the civil litigation are followed, timely Sonja might prove her innocence in the case.

C= Conclusion: No, if she follows all the steps correctly, the U.S Legal System has a high probability of proving her innocence.

8. Discuss your answer and methods by which Tasha could obtain information.

If Tasha could find out whether Avram was faking it that would mean Avram would be lying in court which is a crime. For Tasha and her lawyer to obtain information from Avram, they would opt using civil litigation as it has many stages that Avram will fail if he was lying.

One of the steps in the pre-trial stage of civil litigation is discovery, Tasha’s lawyer should make good use of this stage as parties can submit motions to the court asking for specific information to be turned over where they should opt to ask for medical statements.

Chapter 4: Alternative Dispute Resolution

9. How is arbitration preferable to litigation?

One of the many advantages of using arbitration compared to litigation is that; Arbitration is less expensive than litigation because of the compressed schedules and many processes in courtrooms also the arbitrator has more flexibility compared to a judge because a judge is largely controlled by statutory and procedural rules while in arbitration the parties have the opportunity to establish rules and limits to be used in the process. Another benefit of using arbitration is that provides a resolution faster than a litigation process due to lack of appeals in the process. Lastly the parties have more control as they choose the arbitrator and also set the rules and limits that will determine how formal the process will be. Arbitration process also have its criticism compared to litigation one of which is that no appeal is allowed; hence the involved parties may feel unsatisfied by the decision made by the arbitrator. In most cases, arbitration is done to avoid the harshness of the court litigation; hence the efficiency of the arbitration process is low lastly arbitration lack consistency as there are no set standards for arbitration, making it difficult to find consistency which may lead to biasness.

10. Federal Arbitration Act: Reasons that may lead to an arbitrator’s award being set aside.

The federal arbitration act states five reasons on why arbitrators award should be set aside which are  if the award was procured by corruption, fraud, or undue means, Where there was evident partiality or corruption in the arbitrators thirdly if the arbitrators were guilty of misconduct in refusing to postpone the hearing or of any other misbehaviour by which the rights of any party have been prejudiced also where the arbitrators exceeded their powers, or so imperfectly executed them that a mutual, final, and definite award upon the subject matter submitted was not made and lastly Where an award is vacated and the time within which the agreement required the award to be made has not expired the court may, in its discretion, direct a rehearing by the arbitrators. (United States Congress)

Works Cited

Legal Information Institute. “Complaint.” Cornell Law School, 1992. <https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/complaint>.

Study.com. “Stare Decisis Doctrine: Definition & Example Cases.” n.d. <https://study.com/academy/lesson/stare-decisis-doctrine-definition-example-cases.html>.

United States Congress. “The Federal Arbitration Act(USA).” 1990.

United States court for the district of Utah. Information for filing a civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C sections 1983 and 1985. Utah, 2010.