...Review the Virginia Pollard case information located at the beginning of this project: You Decide ES. (If you click here, you will return to the face-sheet of the project area. To return to this page, click the Begin button again. You can do this all week.) To do well on this project, study the readings for this week and consider the work we did in Week 5. You may want to do some outside research for this project as well, reviewing recent case law on discrimination and harassment and including that in your answers to the project. Do not discuss this project with your classmates. You should do the work on your own. This project is "pooled," meaning your classmates may have different questions than you do. This project is worth 100 points toward your final grade. You can access this area all week and continue updating your answers until the end of the week – be sure to hit "save answers" before leaving each time! When you are done working on the project, hit "Submit for grade," and then it will be available in the grade book for grading. Your role in answering the questions: You are the independent human resources consultant hired by Teddy's Supplies to help explain to the company what the case against them will entail. You have gleaned the facts from your investigations into the situation to date. You have never talked with Virginia Pollard. The case is currently in the appeals stage and the company executives have some questions for you. Answer them using the most recent legal...
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...Pearson v. Custom Cleaners Legal Case Analysis AMBA 610 9043 University of Maryland University College Introduction Frivolous lawsuits can be a determent to those who are really seeking justice through the court system. Lawsuits that are frivolous in nature are filed in the court systems that lack legal merit (Frivolous Lawsuit Law & Legal Definition, 2015). Plaintiffs and attorneys who decide to partake in meaningless claims against other parties can anger society by wasting tax payer’s money on cases that are filed and argued with loop holes in litigation (Frivolous Lawsuit Law & Legal Definition, 2015). Evaluating the product and service liability laws will give insight into the two cases that will be discussed in this paper. The two cases covers how product liability effects the consumer and company owners of each industry of businesses. Cases that are brought to courts for product liability is always initiated by the plaintiff who has to prove if the defendant is liable for alleged action claims (Jones, 2015). Two cases that have made an impact on the pursuit of filing frivolous lawsuits is the Liebeck v. McDonald’s and Pearson v. Custom Cleaners case, which will be discussed in further detail throughout this paper. If cases set precedence’s in the court systems, then these two cases show how people can obtain or attempt to collect monies from others that lacks in importance to bringing legal justice per society standards. Case 1: Liebeck v. McDonald's ...
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...1) Teddy’s Supplies’ CEO has asked you to advise him on the facts of the case and your opinion of their potential liability. He wants to settle the case. Write a memo to him which states your view of whether the company is exposed to liability on all issues you feel are in play. Include in your memo any laws which apply and any precedential cases either for or against Teddy’s case which impact liability. Include in the memo your suggested “offer of settlement” to Virginia. Back up your offer using your analysis of the case against Teddy’s. Ms. Pollard was involuntarily transferred to a different environment, working in a warehouse surrounded by all men. Although she was transferred because she needed to be in an environment in which she would not be making so many personal calls, she never asked to be relocated to the warehouse. Being that Ms. Pollard could not report the events to her direct supervisor because he was involved in the incidents, she attempted to file an anonymous complaint online but the website was not working. Teddy’s needs to ensure that their website is working properly at all times in order to avoid this type of situation. The case states that Ms. Pollard’s supervisor (Steve King) rarely enforced any of Teddy’s rules to include smoking, horseplay, foul language and sexual harassment. This does not vie well for Teddy’s because he is already known for being a lenient boss. It does not mention that Steve King’s supervisor ever had a conversation with him regarding...
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...Business Law Important Terms Kaplan University Rebecca McAvinue Professor William Muniak Business Law LS311-03 February 9, 2015 There are many terms in business that pertain to law that an individual must understand in order to succeed. One must understand what common law is and how it applies to businesses. It is important to understand what a jurisdiction and a precedent are and how they differ. To know what a statute and remedy are and how a business would utilize them. First and foremost it is important to understand what common law is, many people hear it and think about the laws of a household where a man and woman would be considered married after living together for a certain amount of time. It truly is something more complex than that, it is a body of general rules that apply throughout a realm (Miller & Jentz, 2010, Pg. 6). This means that judges used the rulings from previous judgments to assist in making current decisions and they used the same ruling throughout the country. Businesses use common law to create policies and procedures throughout the company. They can use events that have happened and how they were handled to create new ways to keep them from happening again or punishment for repeat offenders. Using common law judges attempted to decide similar cases in similar ways creating a precedent, or an example for deciding later cases of similar nature (Miller & Jentz, 2010, Pg. 6). These precedents are controlled and documented...
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...HOW TO BRIEF A CASE [OR–WHY DIDN’T I CHOOSE TO GO TO MEDICAL SCHOOL] By Dana L. Blatt, Esq. You are just about to start law school. You buy all of your required casebooks [they are about two feet thick–only “slightly” intimidating], and you receive your first assignment. You are simply told, “read the first 100 pages in each book and BRIEF all of the cases!” O.K., you know how to read [hopefully], but what does it mean to “brief” a case? You have heard of “briefcases,” but that is something that you carry around. The last time you sang at a karaoke bar someone may have asked you to be “brief,” but instinctively you know that that is not the kind of brief that is being discussed here. And you may even be wearing “briefs.” But, what is a brief of a case? For that matter, what is a case? The purpose of this article is to teach exactly what briefs are, why they are important, and how to draft them. You will learn most of the various ways to brief a case, the basic elements of each brief, and how briefs are used in various contexts. Additionally, you will read sample cases and briefs of those cases in every format. By the time you finish reading this, you will be so sick of briefs, that you will wish this writing were much briefer! So, now let’s get down to business. What is a case? A “case” starts out as a lawsuit between two or more people. The parties to the lawsuit have a trial and one party wins while the other loses (or possibly there is no...
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...March 3, 2010 TO: Senior Paralegal FROM: Shaimah Hoosein RE: Memorandum of Sources of Law You requested an explanation and example of how the law is derived from the four main sources of law namely statutory, administrative, constitutional and case law. Please take a moment to review my research. I hope this has met your expectations. Statutory Laws: Statutory laws are a set of written rules set down by the legislature. They are published in several forms by different publishers. Both the U.S Congress and the State legislatures enact these statutes either by bill or by joint resolution. Federal statutes take precedence over state statutes and state statutes over the common law. Statutory laws are inferior to constitutional laws and courts have to power to declare them unconstitutional. These laws are codified under titles describing areas of action to which they pertain to. If a statutory law needs to be cited in court, the official edition published by the Government Printing Office is used. A statutory citation has a volume number, the abbreviation “stat.” for Statutes at Large, and the page number where the law begins. For Example: Fla. Stat. § 776.013 (2009) § 776.013. Home protection; use of deadly force; presumption of fear of death or great bodily harm This statute was used in the case: State v. Smiley, 944 So. 2d 1027, 1028 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006). Case No. SC06-1237 Overview: In 2004, Mr. Smiley was charged with first-degree premeditated...
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...Criminal law 1 IN T R O D U C TI O N This chapter explains the two main sources of criminal law in the UK: legislation, that is, Acts of Parliament (or statutes), and case law. It will give you an overview of the process by which Acts of Parliament come into existence as well as introducing you to European Union legislation and the European Convention on Human Rights, both of which have an influence on the law in the UK. You will also gain an understanding of the criminal courts in which cases are heard and the systems of law reporting which allow access to the judgments of those courts. As well as exploring the sources of law, this chapter will show you how to find legislation and case law using a variety of online resources. Finally, the chapter will give a brief introduction to finding the criminal law of overseas jurisdictions. An understanding of the criminal law is important to the study of criminology as it is the criminal law that defines certain forms of conduct as criminal. This criminal law can be contained in both statute law and case law, so it is essential that you understand the origins of both and the ways in which they interrelate. You should see that the criminal law is constantly changing and evolving in response to social, political, and technological influences which manifest themselves in new statutes or judicial interpretation of existing law. If you are studying criminology as an option on a law degree, then the content of this chapter should already...
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...Precedent and the Court Structure The law in the UK is made up of primarily two sources: statute and precedent. Although judges are required to apply statute - interpretation of statute follows common law principles including precedents. Precedents are a concept in common law (England and Wales and other English speaking countries – US, Canada (except Quebec), Gibralter, Hong Kong etc) whereby a previous case if similar (in facts) is used to provide a consistent basis for decisions. Precedents are "binding" on a lower court that is to say they must be followed by a lower court if the decision was made by a higher court. They should also be followed by that court itself. The Latin term Stare Decisis (to maintain what has already been decided) is used to define this. When a judgement is handed down by a judge it is in two parts 1. the ratio decidendi (the reason why) and 2. the orbita dictum (said by the way). The ratio decidendi is binding. The orbita dictum can be cited as persuasive but is not binding. Similarly a lower courts decision can be persuasive to a higher court but is not binding. The general concepts of the above are referred to as "case law" and help to develop and modify the law. Subsequently a great part of the work of a lawyer in a trial is to show how the facts of the particular case differ or resemble other cases to make their points of law in front of the court. In civil law precedent is not followed in the same way and judges theoretically use...
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...Introduction to Law and Legal Reasoning Answers to Questions in the Reviewing Feature AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER 1A. PARTIES The automobile manufacturers are the plaintiffs, and the state of California is the defendant. 2A. Remedy The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction, an equitable remedy, to prevent the state of California from enforcing its statute restricting carbon dioxide emissions. 3A. Source of law This case involves a law passed by the California legislature and a federal statute; thus the primary source of law is statutory law. 4A. Finding the law Federal statutes are found in the United States Code, and California statutes are published in the California Code. You would look in these sources to find the relevant state and federal statutes. Answer to Debate This Question in the Reviewing Feature at the End of the Chapter UNDER THE DOCTRINE OF STARE DECISIS, COURTS ARE OBLIGATED TO FOLLOW THE PRECEDENTS ESTABLISHED IN THEIR JURISDICTIONS UNLESS THERE IS A COMPELLING REASON NOT TO. SHOULD U.S. COURTS CONTINUE TO ADHERE TO THIS COMMON LAW PRINCIPLE, GIVEN THAT OUR GOVERNMENT NOW REGULATES SO MANY AREAS BY STATUTE? BOTH ENGLAND AND THE U.S. LEGAL SYSTEMS WERE CONSTRUCTED ON THE COMMON LAW SYSTEM. THE DOCTRINE OF STARE DECISIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A MAJOR PART OF THIS SYSTEM—COURTS SHOULD FOLLOW PRECEDENTS WHEN THEY ARE CLEARLY ESTABLISHED, EXCEPTED UNDER COMPELLING REASONS. EVEN THOUGH MORE COMMON LAW IS BEING TURNED INTO STATUTORY LAW, THE DOCTRINE...
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...Business Law 7/13/2014 Week 1 Professor McGovern Common Law is The ancient law of England based upon societal customs and recognized and enforced by the judgments and decrees of the courts. The general body of statutes and case law that governed England and the American colonies prior to the American Revolution. The principles and rules of action, embodied in case law rather than legislative enactments, applicable to the government and protection of persons and property that derive their authority from the community customs and traditions that evolved over the centuries as interpreted by judicial tribunals. Common-law courts base their decisions on prior judicial pronouncements rather than on legislative enactments. Where a statute governs the dispute, judicial interpretation of that statute determines how the law applies. Common-law judges rely on their predecessors' decisions of actual controversies, rather than on abstract codes or texts, to guide them in applying the law. Common-law judges find the grounds for their decisions in law reports, which contain decisions of past controversies. Under the doctrine of Stare Decisis, common-law judges are obliged to adhere to previously decided cases, or precedents, where the facts are substantially the same. A court's decision is binding authority for similar cases decided by the same court or by lower courts within the same jurisdiction. The decision is not binding on courts of higher rank within that jurisdiction or in...
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...influence and value of past decisions of case law and prior legal experience. The doctrine of precedent means that judges refer back to previous decisions to help them decide similar cases where the law and facts are alike. A fundamental principle upon which the doctrine of judicial precedent rests, is that a hierarchy of courts is needed if it is to operate. The concept of stare decisis, meaning to stand by what has been decided, forms the basis of the doctrine of judicial precedent. The notion is that like cases should be treated alike for the sake of certainty and consistency which, it is argued, leads to fairness. The effect of this is that, ordinarily, the legal reasoning on a point of law made in an earlier case must be followed. If all courts, regardless of their status or seniority, were able to set precedent, the doctrine of judicial precedent would be a nonsense as it would be practically impossible to determine which precedent took precedence! The doctrine of judicial precedent has overcome this by the requirement that all courts are strictly bound to follow decisions made by the courts above them in the hierarchy. In addition appellate courts are normally bound by their own past decisions. However, there are advantages and disadvantages. Any discussion of the advantages is likely to include the point that the doctrine provides certainty in the law. This means the legal profession can give more helpful advice regarding the law to their clients, including advice...
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...Common Law, Statutory Law and Administrative Law Common Law Judge-Made Law: Sum total of all cases decided by appellate courts. 200 yrs ago almost all laws were common laws. Today most laws are statutory. Disadvantages: Each state has a body of law different from other states (problems for businesses) Stare Decisis Stare Decisis is the essence of common law. It means “Let the decision stand”. Law by precedent (by state). So there should be a precedent in that. Disadvantages: This is not easy. How to balance between predictability and flexibility? Because common law is trying to accommodate both above goals. The more flexibility, the less predictability. Bystander cases Bystander cases - where common law says no duty to assist someone in peril unless you created the danger. But common law changes slightly over time. For example bystander law changed in cases where bystander is an employer or a doctor or even a public place where one can make phone calls. Statutory Law Most new law is statutory law. It affects each of us in business, professional and personal lives. This is more a people-made law or a law made as a result of people electing local legislators who pass state statutes; people vote for senators and representatives who create federal statutes. Example: Criminal Law. Bills Bill is a proposed statute (proposed either by House of Representatives or the Senate). A bill must be voted on passed by both houses. Once both houses pass the bill they send it to the...
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...OF THE LAW TO THE FACTS • TENTATIVE CONCLUSION WHAT TO DO: 1) Identify KEY FACTS of the problem Unlike judges, when you answer a problem or case study you do not need to summarise the facts of a problem. What you should do is identify the key facts. 2) Identify RELEVANT ISSUE of the problem From the key facts, you should then be able to identify the relevant issues in the problem you are considering. 3) Identify KEY LEGAL PRINCIPLES Once you have worked out the issues, ask: (a) does a statutory provision apply to this situation and, if so, does it provide a specific answer to the problem? AND (b) are there any cases which have dealt with a similar fact situation/legal issue to the one you are considering? You should provide the name/section of any relevant legislation and the names of any relevant cases in your answer. Note similarities to (follow) or differences from (distinguish) prior cases When reading a problem it is a good idea to jot down the names of cases that you have studied, where the facts/legal issues were similar, if not identical to the ones in the problem you are considering. Often the facts of a problem may be similar to but a little different to those in a decided case. Think about whether any factual differences matter. Whether or not any differences matter will depend on the scope of the legal principle that the relevant case stands for. It is important to note any factual differences from previous cases and to state...
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...Business Law- In this unit you, Click Link Below To Buy: http://hwcampus.com/shop/business-law-in-this-unit-you/ In this unit you, you will select a case law pertaining to the topic of business entities. Each case law analysis allows you to express yourself as clearly and fully as possible in dissecting a court decision. The purpose of the assignment is two-fold: 1. To give you the opportunity to read a real court decision. 2. To challenge you to think about how you would have decided the case. In your case law analyses, you must be able to navigate the court's decision and summarize it; you are not expected to act as a judge or an advocate. Using your selected court decision, prepare an analysis that responds to the following: 1. Articulates the importance, context, purpose, and relevance of law in a business environment: • Identify the parties who are before the court. • Provide a brief background to problem. Summarize the facts in no more than 2–3 paragraphs. • Identify what is the specific disagreement between the parties. • Explain the ruling of the court in no more than 1–2 paragraphs. 2. Evaluate legal options to create a business entity. • Was there a dissenting opinion? If so, explain why some of the judges or justices disagreed with the majority in the decision. • Compare to other types of business entities-would the party have been in a better position if they formed as a different type of legal business entity? • Do you agree with the...
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...Critically analyse the strengths and weaknesses of precedent and statutory interpretation in the UK’s legal systems The doctrine of precedent arises (stare decisis) from the common law implementation in UK courts. This goes back to King’s Henri II (the King’s Bench) whereby past decisions were dispensed throughout the kingdom. The reasons and main advantages of the same are to ensure consistency/uniformity and predictability, thus creating confidence in the legal system. The stare decisis (stand by what is decided) enacts the requirement on the courts to follow/abide by the previous rationes decidendi of previous cases. Mainly, the lower courts will abide by precedent decisions due to the hierarchy invested therein (Binding precedent). In 1966, the House of Lords (now known as UK Supreme Court) referred to the doctrine of precedent as “…an indispensable foundation upon which to decide the law and its application to individual cases. It provides at least some degree of certainty upon which individuals can rely in the conduct of their affairs, as well as a basis for the orderly development of legal rules”. However, the House of Lords advised that: “…that too rigid adherence to precedent may lead to injustice in a particular case and also unduly restrict the proper development of the law. They propose, therefore, to modify their present practice and, while treating former decisions of this House as normally binding, to depart from a previous decision when it appears...
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