Business Law: Case Study

Final Exam The FINAL EXAM will be available on Blackboard beginning Friday, May 21, at 12:00 AM until Monday, May 24, at 9:00 PM. There is no sample final exam, but students should expect it will be in the same format as the midterm. As for the topics and material for which students are responsible, that information is posted under Course Information and appears below. Regarding the reading, students need only read the material corresponding to the topics covered during the lecture, unless otherwise specified. As for where such readings are located, the chapters are indicated on the course syllabus and outline and in the course lectures. Within each chapter, the table of contents outlines the specific topics covered, making it easy to locate that material corresponding to the lectures. Final Exam - Information and Topics Policies & General Instructions Like the midterm, it will be administered on Blackboard. For the final, you will have two (2) hours to complete it. Please note that while you will be able to save, exit and continue upon re-entering, the clock will continue to run and not stop. So, be sure to budget two hours from start to finish. As for the exam itself, as with the midterm answers must be written in the space provided in the window online. Finally, as the Course Syllabus clearly states, cheating of any form and in any manner is forbidden. It will not be tolerated and will result in a failure of the exam and will be summarily reported to the appropriate university authorities. The final exam material will cover Torts and Contracts. Accordingly, you will be responsible for following areas of law. Please note that this is merely a guide for studying and review purposes and does not necessarily constitute a complete list of all possible topics that may appear on the exam. Further, the exam will not necessarily include all of these topics. Nevertheless, you remain responsible for all of them. Remember, with regard to all your responses, be sure to fully analyze all necessary elements. The more difficult or involved the issues are that you select, the more points you stand to earn. Points will be awarded based on correct identification of legal issues, application of the appropriate (preferably the most appropriate) rule(s) of law and an analysis of the relevant facts to that rule(s) and its elements. A complete analysis is required in support of your legal conclusions. You are permitted, and encouraged, to draw any reasonable inference from the facts that are either given or not given, but under no circumstances are you permitted to "invent" your own facts. The exam will cover Torts and Contracts. Accordingly, you will be responsible for following areas of law. Please note that this is merely a guide for studying and review purposes and does not necessarily constitute a complete list of all possible topics that may appear on the exam. Further, the exam will not necessarily include all of these topics. Nevertheless, you remain responsible for all of them. Substantive Material Torts - Negligence (no intentional torts) Duty - RPS = risk reasonably perceived defines the duty to be obeyed (also see Negligence per se where duty is defined by statute Breach Injury - The injury must be legally recognizable Causation Actual - But for the breach of duty, the injury would not have occurred Proximate - The injury was reasonably foreseeable = if within the zone of danger: expected type of victim, AND expected type of harm In other words, both the person injured and the type or manner sustained must be that which was reasonably expected pursuant to the RPS. - Defenses: contributory negligence, pure comparative fault, 50% comparative fault, assumption of the risk, good Samaritan rule and danger invites rescue Contracts - Agreement: Offer & Acceptance, see flow chart: elements of each - bilateral - mailbox rule - unilateral - substantial performance/ detrimental reliance/ promissory estoppel - Consideration: bargained for exchange, something of legal value, value promised/value received - Capacity - Legality - Mutual Assent - meeting of the minds / mistake - Remedies - put the non-breaching party in the position would have been in had the contract been performed - Compensatory (money) - Actual/ Direct - loss of the bargain itself = difference in value between what you got and what you should have got - Incidental - incident to or as a result of the breach, i.e., expenses or costs associated with the breach, but not the breach itself, e.g., additional costs incurred by obtaining alternative performance - Consequential (special) - as a consequence of the breach, Hadley v. Baxendale rule = breaching party either knew or had reason to know of the special circumstances, meaning that they could have or should have been foreseen from the circumstance surrounding the agreement (or the parties stated the special circumstances) - Equitable - specific performance (not for personal service contracts), restitution, unjust enrichment - Conditions Precedent, Subsequent & Concurrent - Complete performance required / Substantial performance - minor breach (difference in value only) / Partial performance - material breach (all remedies available if not speculative) - Statute of Frauds - those contracts which MUST be in writing in order to be enforceable; all other oral contracts are enforceable provided it complies with all contract elements. - One Year rule - if a contract cannot possibly be performed within one year, it must be in writing. It need not be actually performed within one year, but only that it is possible to be performed. - Sale of Goods $500 or more. - exceptions to Statute of Frauds (i.e., if it is an oral contract that otherwise must be in writing to be enforced as required by S/F, are there any exceptions which would then make the oral contract enforceable) such as partial performance, promissory estoppel and customized goods. - sufficiency of the writing so as to enforce an otherwise oral contract (what terms must be written down, formally or informally, to constitute "in writing")