...The High Cost of Low Price: By the end of 2012, it has been estimated that an average 5,000 lawsuits filed against Wal-Mart each year. “According to Forbes magazine when an employee starts his shift at 9A.M, three lawsuits will be filed against the company by the time he or she takes a coffee break at 10:30 A.M” (Riper, 2005). Walmart management has violated several employment laws, and they were aware for many years that they had problems companywide concerning Fair Labor Standard Act, but they still chose to ignore it without any sufficient action. The following are just few highlighted and noted violation Walmart has made: * Extensive violation of Child labor * Sexual discrimination (different wages and promotion standards for men and women) * Exploitation of illegal immigrants. * Violation of state regulation, requiring time for breaks and meals. An internal audit of Walmart for one week of time record indicated the following: * 60,767 missed breaks * 15,705 lost meal times * 1,371 instances of minors working long hours or during school hours. Despite the knowledge of this violation's by the management, they still continued to take place till someone filed a lawsuit against the organization. Since 1999 Walmart has settled multiple lawsuits amounting in excess of $500 million. Even with these lawsuits the company hasn't changed the way it handles the employee issues. As of now Walmart has 76 wages, hour and overtime cases still pending against...
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...December 31 2007, your company determined that a loss in connection to the claim was probable. • The company estimated a loss between 15 and $20 million USD. • $17 million USD was named as the most likely amount of loss. • A jury trial took place on September 2009. • On September 24 2009 the jury found in favor of W. • The judgment required your company to pay W $18.5 million USD. • In November 2009, your company filed an appeal. • In December 2010, the court of appeals overturned the jury verdict and the $18.5 million judgement. • On January 6th 2011 W filed a petition for re-hearing. • On February 10, 2011, the appellate judges declined W’s petition. • On February 28 2011, the company’s management determined that the lawsuit was closed. Specific Issue 1: For the year ended December 31 2007, financial statements, what amounts should the company record as a liability? Options: The company could record the liability at 15 million, $17 million, or $20 million. Before deciding what amount to accrue, we should determine if the contingency qualifies for accrual. According to ASC 450-20-25-2, a loss contingency must be accrued if “the information available…indicates that it is probable that… a liability had been incurred at the date of the financial statements, and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated.” Your company’s management has determined that the loss is probable, and has estimated a range for the amount of loss. Based on this information...
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...dispute resolution methods, which assist in resolving disputes at an expedited rate. There are various applications where ADR can be used as a helpful resolution tool with in civil cases as long as there is a mediation, settlement, and or arbitration. For example with in mediation this process becomes important as long as there is an equal compromise and a desire to preserve a relationship between both parties. For the case highlighted such is not the scenario in MICHAEL AVERY et al., Appellees, v. STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY . The class action lawsuit stated State farm proven to prefer non original equipment parts as a less expensive replacement part to “crash parts” therefore further assisting in decreasing the value of the vehicle and creating additional non factory hazards violating contract agreements to restore vehicle back to factory standards and thus committing consumer fraud. Recommendations The cost of settling out of court would have been wise, while not being blamed at fault for a negligent business practice and poor assessment. As a result using the Traditional court system the Plaintiffs claimed to the judgment that ending the breach of contract and statutory consumer fraud, in addition to a claim seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. As a result the ADR process was not used. The jury returned a verdict in favor...
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...Law Case analysis MONTGOMERY ELEVATOR COMPANY, a Delaware Corporation authorized to do business in the State of Colorado, Petitioner, v. Brenda GORDON, Respondent No. 79SC207 Supreme Court of Colorado 619 P.2d 66; 1980 Colo. LEXIS 770 November 10, 1980 Parties: Brenda Gordon: Plaintiff in the first instance Appellant in the second instance Montgomery Elevator Company (Elevator maintenance company) Defendant in the first instance Appellee in the second instance Westinghouse Electric Corporation (Elevator manufacturer company) Defendant in the first instance Facts: Brenda Gordon was injured when she attempted to exit from an elevator in the Hilton Hotel in Denver, where she was employed. The elevator door closed after she and another hotel employee, Ernest Yogley, had entered it. The elevator did not move. Instead, the door reopened slightly, but the opening was not wide enough to allow the passengers to exit. With the assistance of a third employee who was outside the elevator, Yogley opened the door enough to get out. As Gordon attempted to exit, however, the door began to close, pinning her between the door and the wall of the elevator. In attempting to free herself, she was injured. Issues: First instance: Did the defendants have the negligence action on plaintiff’s injury? Did the plaintiff establish the defendants' negligence of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur? Is the plaintiff free from contributory negligence? Second instance: Did...
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...A sports bar named Reed Pierce’s bar in Jackson Mississippi had a case of pregnancy discrimination when they fired a waitress unfairly. Melody McKinley was four month pregnant when she was simply taken off the schedule. She was also told “the baby is taking its toll on you” ("U.s. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission", 2013). She had never asked to cutback on shifts and was also not under any medical restrictions while pregnant. The settlement was a two-year decree that required the bar to implement policies and training to prevent pregnancy discrimination and monetary relief for $20,000 for McKinley. Intesa Sanpaolo is a bank that operates in New York. Giuseppe had gone on FMLA leave do to many health issues including depression. After being on leave he for five months Intesa sent Giuseppe a letter asking if he was going to return to work or if he was going to abandon his position at the bank. The back received a letter from Giuseppe’s attorney stating that “has not at any time evinced or expressed an intention to 'abandon his position.' Rather, he has been sick and unable to work, with an uncertain prognosis and a return to work date that is indeterminate at this time” (Nowak, 2013). The bank then terminated Giuseppe’s employment. He later sued the bank and their response was that he requested an indefinite leave. They expressed that this was an accommodation, which was not required by the employer since it was an unreasonable request. Even though the New York law mentioned...
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...➢ Style of Case and Citation: Wal-Mart Stores Vs. Johnson 106 S.W.3d 718 (Tx.2003) ➢ Court Rendering Final Decision: Trial Court ➢ Identification of Parties and Procedural Details: The plaintiff is Monroe Johnson. The defendant is Wal-Mart. Monroe Johnson is suing Wal-Mart based on injuries he sustained during an incident at Wal-Mart where a store employee dropped many reindeer on him. ➢ Discussion of the Facts: An employee of Wal-Mart dropped reindeer on Monroe Jackson. He sustained a cut on his arm and the employee bandaged him up. He may no threats of suing and stated he was fine. Hours later he was uncomfortable in his neck and his arm and could not sleep. He saw his physician the next day and was prescribed painkillers. Six months later still in pain he sued Wal-Mart. 17 months after the initial incident he finally had a surgery that fixed his neck. ➢ Statement and Discussion of the Legal Issues in Dispute: . The statements are that Monroe Jackson was injured at Wal-Mart. The manager took statements and photos; however, did not retain the reindeer that landed on the consumer. When the court was presented with the case there were two very different accounts of how large the reindeers were and it could not be accounted for. The court ruled in favor of Mr. Johnson on the basis that Wal-Mart did not retain the reindeer because it would have been detrimental to their case therefore causing fault against Wal-Mart. ➢ Subject...
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...by the BP oil spill, including legal options for businesses and individuals looking to get back on their financial feet after the oil spill. (For in-depth information on filing a claim with BP's $20 billion compensation fund, see Nolo's article BP Oil Spill: Filing a Claim With BP's Compensation Fund.) The BP Oil Spill: Types of Lawsuits The BP oil spill has already prompted the filing of thousands of lawsuits. Businesses and workers have seen their livelihoods suffer or even disappear in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Texas. Families and individuals in the Gulf region worry about the health hazards posed by the chemicals used to disperse and clean up the oil. And, with its dubious distinction as the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history, the BP oil spill has inflicted immeasurable devastation on the Gulf's coastline, wetlands, wildlife, and ecosystems. Here's a look at the different kinds of lawsuits being filed over the BP oil spill (with links to more information from Nolo where relevant). * Lost business profits and individual income losses. Thousands of businesses and workers in the Gulf region have filed lawsuits against BP, seeking repayment for profits and income that were lost because of the oil spill. These plaintiffs include companies and employees in the commercial...
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...Interactions Josh Herricks LAW/421 June-6-2013 Luke Martin Legal and Ethical Issues in Resolving International Interactions When an individual or a company is going to involve themselves in international transactions and or resolve a problem he or she should be educated with the laws and understand the foreign culture that he or she is doing business with. Without knowledge of the laws and the customs of a country it could mean that the business transaction will end before it started. It does not matter how small the international transaction, how good the partnership is, and if he or she thinks that nothing will ever happen during international transaction it is him or hers responsibility to make sure they are protected from any lawsuits and any litigations occurring. Businesses that take part in international transaction need to remember the transaction can be challenging. Both parties of an international transaction should come to an agreement on what is the choice of law and what forum selection will be used. The choice of law is to help eliminate confusion and helps coming to an understanding. The forum selection is a decision on how the conflict will be resolved such as arbitration, litigation, jurisdiction of the courts, and procedures. More issues are the culture will be different in a foreign country and if there are any religious views that he or she follows. In the United States men and women are treated equally. Men and woman have the choice on what they want...
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...as maintain order when it has gotten out of order (Llewellyn, 213),” they are also be used to punish the most minor crimes and torts. Each year, about 18 million to 30 million civil cases are considered in both federal and state courts (Pflepsen). Moreover, the United States of America has more than 70 percent of the lawyers in the entire world with half of them doing what non-lawyers do in the other parts of this world (Pflepsen). Yet, the mere fact that the United States has more than a third of the entire world’s lawyers shows that there is a high demand for litigation services, as demonstrated by the number of civil cases that are brought to federal and state courts. Some people have different views toward this previously mentioned lawsuit numbers. Given that there are different varieties of crimes that people can be punished in courts for, such as assault and battery, false imprisonment,...
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...Question 1: What financial impact do you think the lawsuit could potentially have on Wal-Mart? If the law suit was successful the company would have to pay all the compensation amount which was around 86 million dollars to its entire 1.6 million female employees .Which in short would be a big blow to the company’s financials, and also with the deteriorating image caused by the issue they might possibly lose out on an considerable amount of customers leading to further financial implications. It would also result in higher prices in the store because the company would try to make up for all the loss incurred cause of the particular suit. Question 2: What are the major moral complaints of the females suing Wal-Mart? Do you believe these moral complaints are justified? Why? The major complaints launched by the women were that the company (wal-mart) discriminated against female employees in promotions pay, management training and job assignments. The women stated that promotions in wal-mart were biased towards men, where men were promoted much faster and at a much frequent rate then women. They also stated that there was a pay gap between men and women where two people of different gender on the same positions were paid differently and women were often paid fairly lower than the men. I think feel the complaints are valid. If you are in a job and you see other coworkers getting hired whom are less qualified than you are then I think that the complaints are valid. If more than...
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...and government to pay closer attention to food labels, especially dietary supplements. The food industry is highly competitive and the high regulations could cause severe profit margin decreased in companies who do not legally represent themselves appropriately. Claims against companies in the food industry There are several areas where companies need to watch out for. The world is changing into this environmental friendly monster, which is outstanding, and it is affecting the food industry in the claims companies have to deal with. State consumer protection acts are other avenues where lawsuits can develop. “Food and beverage companies often face litigation in more than one jurisdiction, with more than one plaintiff, represented by separate sets of plaintiffs’ counsel” (http://www.sidley.com/productsliabilitylitigationfoodindustry/). In some cases, settling these lawsuits out of court is the best approach because of the negative publicity it could cause, but it’s just another example if the importance in having proper legal representation in the food industry. Food industry litigation example Companies in the food industry are spending thousands of dollars annually in order to keep the price down with litigation...
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...Importance of Training for Employees Anonymous HRM 326 Importance of Training for Employees The effectiveness of an organization greatly depends on how resourceful are its employees and how well prepared they are to meet challenges at work. Many organizations request the services of outside consultants to identity and implement trainings to improve the performance of its’ employees. Nowadays, the diversity of cultures in the United States, the complexity of the law system, and the challenges employees face regularly in their work places, are forcing organizations to train their employees to overcome these challenges. Trainings in legal requirements, diversity, and employee’s growth have become necessary for organizations to maintain the effectiveness of the employees. The main focus of this paper is to discuss how important are these subject areas to the development of employees professional and personal needs. Also the paper will focus on what benefits organizations acquire by implementing these types of employee trainings. Employees’ Legal Requirements During Training There are many potential situations during training that can adversely affect the reputation of an organization and can make employees vulnerable to legal actions (Noe, Chapter 10, 2008). Some of these adverse situations that can occur during training are employees getting injured during training events, not including all genders and races in the training, providing...
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...Traditional Litigation: Encountering Risks and Reducing Exposure When dealing with traditional litigation, a business or organization will risk scrutiny of the company’s image or brand, and clearly suffers monetary costs, which can affect the entity’s bottom line. Reflecting on the traditional litigation system, dependent on the type of trial, for example, a civil trial, the burden of proof is rested upon the plaintiff. The plaintiff must present truthful evidence or proof to a judge or jury against the defendant. Thus, the strength of the plaintiff’s credible facts and truth must be supportive of the plaintiff’s claim and proven stronger than the defendant’s defense. Considering the requirements to support a case (plaintiff or defendant), research and costs will rise. The initial course of the discovery process is a difficult factor in itself and has several disadvantages for each party involved. It is expensive, time consuming, and for the most part, a burden in effort to gather relevant evidence to make or strengthen the plaintiff and/or prosecutors case. On the other hand, for the defendant, the discovery process could reveal implicating evidence causing a weak defense or no defense by any means. As an advantage however, both parties, through the discovery process, are given the opportunity to civilly research, view, and gather relevant evidence and information related to the case, which supplies an advantage for each or either party to identify the strengths and weaknesses...
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...Question One: Explain the difference between substantive and procedural law. Substantive law is the statutory or written law that defines rights and duties of people as they act in society and it deals with the legal relationship between people. Substantive law is an independent set of laws that decide the fate of the case and cannot be applicable in non-legal contexts. So substantive law underlines the essential substance of a trial. Procedural law provides the machinery to enforce the substantive laws on the government bodies. It comprises the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil or criminal proceedings. It deals with the method by which substantive law is made and administered. Procedural law has no independence and can be applicable in non-legal contexts. It only tells how the legal process to be executed by giving a step-by-step action. Question Two: During the discovery phase, the parties resort to the use of interrogatories, depositions, admission requests and document production requests. Briefly define these different discovery tools and explain the purpose for each. Explain the purpose of discovery as you understand it. Interrogatories are a formal set of written questions directed by one litigant and required to be answered by the other party and are used for the purpose of clarifying and narrowing the issues or the facts and help to determine in advance what facts will be presented at trial in the case. Deposition is the oral...
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...and defamation of character How a Personal Excess Liability Policy Works As the name implies, a Personal Excess Liability Policy provides an added layer of protection on top of your existing auto and homeowner insurance policies. Further, with a PELP, you’re protected with the full coverage amount of your policy, plus the standard liability coverage amount from your existing auto or home policy. You get the $1 million protection in addition to the liability coverage provided by your auto or home policy. Let’s say you have: $1 million of personal excess liability coverage. $300,000 of auto or homeowner liability If you were sued for $1 million, your basic auto or homeowner policy would cover the first $300,000 of the lawsuit costs, then your PELP policy would cover the additional $700,000. Without this additional liability coverage, your current and future assets and income could be at considerable risk in order to pay off this debt. Valuable Protection and Peace of Mind MetLife Auto & Home’s Personal Excess Liability Policy gives you peace of mind knowing you have the extra coverage you need to protect your...
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