Business Law Assignments

Instructions

Legal and Ethical Scenarios

Select two of the scenarios provided below. Analyze the facts in the scenarios and develop appropriate arguments and recommendations using case law and scholarly sources. Do not copy the case studies into the paper. Cite your sources in APA format on a separate page. Submit the paper to the Submissions Area by the due date  assigned.

Scenario 1:  Consideration and Capacity

Lucinda is on her way home to Grand Rapids, Michigan, from boarding school in Lansing Michigan   to celebrate her 17th birthday with family.  Lucinda’s car has a flat tire in an ice storm and skids into a ditch.  Lucinda is able to walk to the nearest house where an elderly couple offers her food and shelter until her car can be fixed.  Two days later, the snowplows cleared the road, the car is pulled out of ditch, the tire is repaired, and Lucinda is on her way home.  Lucinda’s mother, Louise, is so appreciative of the couple’s care for her daughter that she sends them an email promising to pay $500 to help cover the expenses.  Living on a fixed income, the elderly couple accepts the offer by return email.  Lucinda and her mother get into an argument and Louise refuses to pay couple. 

• Can the couple hold Louise liable in contract for the services provided to Lucinda? Provide arguments for the parties, determine the outcome and support your answer with scholarly material.

Scenario 2: Types of Contracts

Dr. Brown was an adjunct instructor North State University (NSU) in Michigan.  Each semester, near the beginning of each term, the parties executed a written contract that always included the following provision: “The parties acknowledge that this agreement may be cancelled by NSU or the instructor at any time before the first class session.”  In the spring semester of Brown’s  sixth year, he filed a complaint with NSU claiming that one of his students, Sylvia Davis, had engaged in inappropriate and disruptive classroom conduct.  Brown gave her an “incomplete” grade and asked NSU to require her to apologize as a condition of receiving a final grade.  NSU claimed, and Brown denied, that he was told to assign Davis a grade if he wanted to teach in the fall.  Toward the end of the semester, Brown was told which classes he would teach in the fall, but the parties did not sign a written contract.  The Wednesday before classes began, NSU terminated him.  Brown filed a suit against NSU and others, alleging breach of contract. 

• Did the parties have a contract?
•  If so, what type of contract did they have.
• Did NSU breach it?  Explain. 

Scenario 3:  Agreement

Walker Honda, an automobile dealership that sold new cars, leased several properties from Commercial One, a leasing company.  One day, a fire destroyed part of one of the leased buildings and Walker restored the premises.  Commercial One received payment of insurance proceeds for the fire.  Walker sued Commercial One to recover the insurance proceeds.  Then days before the trial started, Commercial One served Walker a document titled “Offer to Compromise Before Trial,” which was a settlement offer of $120,000.  Walker agreed to the amount of the settlement but made it contingent on the execution of a new lease.  The next day, Commercial One notified Walker that they were revoking the settlement offer.  Walker thereafter tried to accept the original settlement offer.

• Has there been a settlement of the lawsuit? Explain