Assignment: Tort Law
Write a 2-page executive briefing of a selected federal or state court case pertaining to the topic of tort law.
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
• Competency 1: Articulate the importance, context, purpose, and relevance of law in a business environment.
o Summarize the facts and ruling of a legal case.
• Competency 3: Evaluate key judicial concepts that influence the decisions related to business.
o Analyze how a legal case could impact businesses.
o Explain how a legal case could impact a specific organization.
• Competency 5: Develop information literacy skills as applied to business law.
o Exhibit information literacy skills as applied to business law.
For this assessment, you will first select an actual business-related legal case, pertaining to the topic of tort law, based on briefly conducting associated research. Based on that, you will then select an organization that you believe would be impacted by that legal case. Having completed both of these tasks, you should assume you're a senior manager in the organization you selected, and that you were asked to perform an analysis of the legal case and to write an executive briefing for the executive team of that same organization. Your executive briefing should include a summary of the case, as well as an evaluation of how the case impacts the organization.
The purpose of this format is two-fold:
1. To give you the opportunity to research and investigate a real court decision.
2. To challenge you to think about the business implications of the case, and specifically how the case will impact an actual organization.
In your case law analysis you must be able to navigate the court's decision, and summarize and evaluate it. You may choose any business-related court case, either state or federal, as the basis for your case law executive briefing, as long as the case is applicable to the assessment topic. You are expected to conduct your own independent research to locate and evaluate the applicability of cases. A few appropriate case law websites are recommended for you in the Resources, but you are not limited to using cases from these sites.
For this assessment, use credible legal research databases and online resources, research federal and state court cases, and select any business-related case that has been decided by a state court, a federal court, or the United States Supreme Court. Then select an organization (potentially the organization for which you work) that you believe the selected case might impact. Write an executive briefing that addresses the following:
Research federal and state court cases pertaining to the topic of tort law. Select one court case and write an analysis that addresses the following:
1. Articulate the context and relevance of law in a business environment:
o Identify the parties who are before the court.
o Provide a brief background and context associated with the case. Summarize the facts in no more than 2-3 paragraphs.
o Identify the specific disagreement between the parties.
o Explain the ruling of the court and its business relevance in no more than 1-2 paragraphs. Was there a dissenting opinion? If so, explain why some of the judges or justices disagreed with the majority in the decision.
2. Evaluate the business impact of the case:
o Summarize your analysis of how the case will impact businesses in general, including both positive and negative impacts.
o Indicate the organization you selected as potentially impacted by the case and why you selected that organization.
o Explain how the case will impact the specific organization you selected, such that the executive team will understand the implications of the legal decision.
Based on your executive audience, your executive briefing should be no more than two pages, and should be well organized and written in clear, succinct language. Follow APA rules for attributing sources that support your analysis and conclusions.
Read the following document for important information related to the following topics:
• Strict Liability and Product Liability.
• Consumer Protection.
• The Public Policy Nexus.
Strict Liability and Product Liability
Take some time to examine the contours of strict liability, which is one of the strongest standards in business law. In very few instances does the U.S. legal system mandate the imposition of strict liability upon anyone. If strict liability is imposed on a party, it is because there is a serious and critical public policy reason for doing so. For example, products that seriously maim, with demonstrable negligence, can fall under the strict liability standard.
Product liability is a more common concern for businesses. When a commercial party submits a product or a service into the stream of commerce, then the commercial entity that created the product or service is responsible, within certain boundaries, for any injuries or damages caused to anyone down the line. Courts will always look at causation to determine whether or not the product or service did, in fact, cause the alleged injury and whether the injured party did anything that may have aggravated the injury or worsened the results of the injury.
In both strict liability and product liability, society has developed the standards by which commercial parties can be found liable not because there is any intent to hamstring the role of commercial organizations, but, rather, to recognize that consumers are entitled to basic protections, especially when companies and organizations are aware of the risks of the products and do little, if anything, to ameliorate or to address those problems prior to submitting them into the stream of commerce.
Consumer Protection
Another key factor of business law is the notion of consumer protection. Consumer protection in the United States is largely dependent upon the political winds in Washington, D.C. Organizations and agencies such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission are only as strong and as effective in the performance of their duties as elected officials intend for those organizations to be. Indeed, federal and state agencies involved in consumer protection are dependent upon annual appropriations that govern the size of their staff and scope of their budgets-and, therefore, the reach of their responsibility and ability to address serious consumer product issues.
Consider the impact of the global economy on the legal environment of consumer protection. When a consumer in the United States is injured by a product manufactured in China or India, it is vastly more difficult for a litigant in the United States to obtain damages from a party that is located in Mumbai or Shanghai, as opposed to Minneapolis or Seattle. The courts have been struggling to determine ways to more effectively streamline these cases so that litigants can receive recompense, but with the increasingly international component to U.S. consumerism, this is a complicating factor that courts around the country grapple with on a daily basis.
The Public Policy Nexus
Some feel that tort law-and the judicial system in general-unduly exposes businesses to the reach of frivolous lawsuits. In their eyes, so-called professional litigants abuse the system by seeking to obtain damages from companies. However, in a more global context, with millions of products entering the stream of commerce, the law recognizes a special duty on the part of manufacturers and retailers to not only understand the risks and potential harms of those products, but also to implement sufficient warnings, safeguards, and protections for consumers.
Whether or not you question the vitality of the judicial system in enforcing consumer protection laws, consider it in a public policy context. Be sure to recognize the vital role that politics play in the strength of consumer protections and in the resolution of tort lawsuits in the judicial system.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.