DISCUSSION POST MUST BE 10+ SENTENCES AND THE PEER REVIEW MUST BE 7+ SENTENCES PLEASE USE YOUR OWN WORDS AND DO NOT COPY FROM OTHER SITES STAY ON TOPIC ,BE POSITIVE , AND DO NOT COMMENT ON GRAMMAR ERRORS. TALK DIRECTLY TO CLASSMATES IN PEER REVIEWS!!!
1) DISCUSSION QUESTION
One of the most fundamental issues in business law involves the question of when a company can be held liable for the acts of an individual person, whether this involves a contractual obligation or a personal injury (meaning a tort). Choose one of the scenarios below and explain whether or not you think the business is liable for the acts under the principles of agency law.
- A real estate agent hires a handful of local kids to do the landscaping of homes that he is trying to sell. In addition to the general payment, he reimburses them for the cost of gasoline for lawn mowers and other equipment. While mowing a lawn, one of the kids loses control of a lawn mower and it mows down a neighbors very expensive collection of lawn gnomes.
- In a hurry to get his apartment complex painted, a homeowner hires three people he meets at the local home improvement store to do the work. Since they’re not professional painters, he provides all of the equipment and paint needed to do the work. While at the apartment complex, one of them breaks into an apartment, assaults the resident and steals a wallet.
- An entrepreneur decides to open up his own car-for-hire business, and creates an app allowing anyone to connect with people who need a ride. The passengers pay the entrepreneur, who in turn pays a percentage to the driver. Other than the app, the entrepreneur has no other involvement between the driver and the passenger. One night, a driver who is intoxicated picks up a passenger and then gets into an accident, and the passenger is severely injured.
2) PEER REVIEW #1(FELICIA)
I choice the scenario with the homeowner and the three workers he found at the home improvement store. Under the Agency law, the homeowner would be the Principal and the three workers would be the Agents. The three agents (Painters) agreed to do the painting at the apartment complex, therefore, giving the consent. The homeowner is liable for any acts done by the agents because he has control of the agents (painters) while under his control as the principal. Implied authority was given to the agents to finish the job they were hired to do which did not include assaulting and robbing the tenants
3) PEER REVIEW #2 (HEATHER)
This one amused me, only because I’m a couple DUI’s down, a third results a year in jail. Having my family probably saved my life, and others. Anyway, this falls on the driver. Regardless, of how many background checks a business owner can do, the person driving probably has driven drunk before. This falls on the drivers insurance, or not. Does the driver have insurance? Did the passenger sign a “consent” type document, upon entering the website/app? Did anyone read the fine print? There’s so much extra questions. I’m sure lawyers are going to try to come after the owner, but in the end, it comes to the judge and the drunk. The person was injured, due to a drunk driver. The passenger and their lawyer’s won’t settle for less- will probably want medical bills paid and pain/suffering check.
This drunk is going to jail for a while, depending on how the judge is and how many offenses are on the record. In Ohio, if you deny the breathalyser, it’s an automatic 2 year suspension on the license. To reinstate, you need to have insurance with an SR22, before asking the judge for driving privileges. The SR22 basically tells the courts whether or not you paid the insurance that month or not. If not, your license gets taken again. Before that happens, the judge usually rules a 90 AA meetings in 90 days, a class, 5 MADD meetings- one at the morgue and the fee of court. This didn’t include the $575 fee to reinstate through the BMV. This whole case is a mess, and that driver won’t probably get their license back for a while. If the driver was under 25, they would lose their license until 25.
Yeah, there is some liability here and I’m sure the judge will ask to see the fine print. This isn’t a light case and will probably go on for a few months before a sentencing has been thought about being brought to the table.
