Write a 2–page executive briefing of a selected federal or state court case pertaining to the topic of tort law.
The Basis of Tort Law
One
of the most important concepts of the law is the notion that if one
party damages another in a noncriminal context, then the aggrieved party
is entitled to restitution, to be made whole. In a business law
context, making another party whole (note: this is a fairly common term
that you will hear again and again in a legal context) is the entire
purpose of tort law. In other words, a judge or jury will attempt to
determine exactly what needs to be done when an aggrieved party can
demonstrate damages, and what those damages should be, in order to
return a party to its state prior to the alleged action.
Virtually
all commercial enterprises deal with the public at some point,
providing products, services, or any sort of commercially relevant
activities. The risk of inflicting even unintentional damages on
consumers thus exposes commercial concerns to lawsuits and litigation.
Criminal
penalties cannot be attached to business entities. If a crime is
committed, the government charges specific individuals within the
corporation who may be responsible, not the business entity. Yet,
society recognizes that businesses, out of negligence, ignorance, or
malfeasance, may cause injury to another party. Tort law imposes
standards by which such injured parties can seek recompense from the
corporation in civil court. Whereas an entire corporate entity cannot be
tried in a criminal court, it can be a defendant in a civil court.
Read the Assessment 6 Context document for important information related to the following topics:
Strict Liability and Product Liability.
Consumer Protection.
The Public Policy Nexus.
Questions to Consider
To
deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions
below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an
interested friend, or a member of the business community.
Should the owner of a car be liable to a thief for the thief’s injuries, if the stolen car has no brakes?
Does someone watching a person being robbed have a duty to help the person being robbed?
Should a person who has been careless be liable for all damage caused by his or her carelessness, or should there be limits?
Should courts always punish companies that have been careless by awarding large amounts of money to those who have been injured?
Are there situations where companies should be liable to those who have been injured, even if the company has not been careless?
Tort
law permeates society and daily life. Think of a tort issue in your
life or in the life of someone close to you. Perhaps you did not pursue
litigation, but considering your knowledge of tort law, do you think you
should have? Perhaps you pursued litigation and lost. Is it clear why
you lost? Specifically, identify the elements of the tort cause of
action and apply facts to each element. If the case is not clear cut, it
will probably be because an element of a cause of action is not clearly
met. If an element of a cause of action is clearly not met, there is
not a legitimate cause of action.
Suggested Resources
The
following optional resources are provided to support you in completing
the assessment or to provide a helpful context. For additional
resources, refer to the Research Resources and Supplemental Resources in
the left navigation menu of your courseroom.
Throughout this
course, you will be required to submit case law analysis papers. This
multimedia presentation points out key areas of a case law. Use this
presentation to help you complete your case analyses. Refer to this
media as often as you need to.
Business Law Foundational Concepts | Transcript.
This
media piece offers interactive flashcards that you can use to learn (or
review) foundational terms and concepts in business law. Refer to this
study aid often and as needed.
Library Resources
The following e-books or articles from the Capella University Library are linked directly in this course:
DuBoff, L. D. (2004). The law (in plain English) for small business. Naperville, IL: Sphinx Publishing.
Course Library Guide
A
Capella University library guide has been created specifically for your
use in this course. You are encouraged to refer to the resources in the
BUS-FP3021– Fundamentals of Business Law Library Guide to help direct
your research. Pay particular attention to the Capella University
Library Legal Research Library Guide linked within.
Internet Resources
Access
the following resources by clicking the links provided. Please note
that URLs change frequently. Permissions for the following links have
been either granted or deemed appropriate for educational use at the
time of course publication.
Nolo. (2013). Nolo law for all. Retrieved from http://www.nolo.com
This
resource provides helpful background on a range of legal issues. You
may find the Free Legal Information section of the site particularly
helpful.
U.S. Small Business Administration. (n.d.). SBA.gov. Retrieved from http://www.sba.gov
The
U.S. Small Business Administration has a variety of resources that help
to guide entrepreneurs in how to form the correct entity as they launch
or formalize their business endeavors.
Dow Jones & Company, Inc. (2013). The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/home-page
The Wall Street Journal stands as one of the best resources for tax issue reporting.
Bookstore Resources
The
resources listed below are relevant to the topics and assessments in
this course and are not required. Unless noted otherwise, these
materials are available for purchase from the Capella University
Bookstore. When searching the bookstore, be sure to look for the Course
ID with the specific –FP (FlexPath) course designation.
Miller, R. L., & Cross, F. B. (2018). The legal environment of business: Text and cases (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage
Assessment Instructions
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:
To give you the opportunity to research and investigate a real court decision.
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:
Articulate the context and relevance of law in a business environment:
Identify the parties who are before the court.
Provide a brief background and context associated with the case. Summarize the facts in no more than 2–3 paragraphs.
Identify the specific disagreement between the parties.
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.
Evaluate the business impact of the case:
Summarize your analysis of how the case will impact businesses in general, including both positive and negative impacts.
Indicate the organization you selected as potentially impacted by the case and why you selected that organization.
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.
Academic Integrity and APA Formatting
As a reminder related to using APA rules to ensure academic honesty:
When
using a direct quote (using exact or nearly exact wording), you must
enclose the quoted wording in quotation marks, immediately followed by
an in-text citation. The source must then be listed in your references
page.
When paraphrasing (using your own words to describe a
non-original idea), the paraphrased idea must be immediately followed by
an in-text citation and the source must be listed in your references
page.
Case Law Analysis: Tort Law Scoring Guide
|
CRITERIA |
NON-PERFORMANCE |
BASIC |
PROFICIENT |
DISTINGUISHED |
|
Exhibit information literacy skills as applied to business law. |
Does not exhibit information literacy skills as applied to business law. |
Exhibits inconsistent information literacy skills as applied to business law, or uses sources of questionable credibility. |
Exhibits information literacy skills as applied to business law. |
Exhibits |
|
Summarize the facts and ruling of a legal case. |
Does not summarize the facts and ruling of a legal case. |
Lists facts of the ruling, but omits key elements or does not summarize the ruling. |
Summarizes the facts and ruling of a legal case. |
Summarizes the facts and ruling of a legal case, and clearly explains the business context and relevance. |
|
Analyze how a legal case could impact businesses. |
Does not analyze how a legal case could impact businesses. |
Discusses a legal case in the context of business, but does not explain the relationship or significance to businesses. |
Analyzes how a legal case could impact businesses. |
Analyzes how a legal case could impact businesses, including both positive and negative impacts. |
|
Explain how a legal case could impact a specific organization. |
Does not explain how a legal case could impact a specific organization. |
Discusses |
Explains how a legal case could impact a specific organization. |
Explains |


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