Chance Innis did business as Roadrunner Hotshot, renting equipment to oil companies in North Dakota. Innis’s sister, Cammie Wold, operated the business. At a restaurant in Williston, Innis and Wold met with Louis Tornabeni, who orally agreed to provide Innis with the equipment for one of Innis’s clients, Continental Resources, in exchange for 90 percent of the rental profit. After more than two years, Tornabeni filed a suit in a North Dakota state court against Wold and Innis, seeking his asserted share of the profit. Based on Tornabeni’s testimony and undisputed evidence that he provided equipment to Innis, who was paid for its use, the court determined that the parties had an oral contract and that Innis had breached it. The court ordered Innis to pay Tornabeni $145,536 in damages. On other grounds, Wold was held liable to Tornabeni for $477,521. [Tornabeni v. Wold, 2018 ND 253, 920 N.W.2d 454 (2018)] (See Exceptions to the Writing Requirement.) 

(a) Apply the IDDR approach to evaluate the ethics of the decision by Innis and Wold not to pay Tornabeni his share of the rental profit.

(b) During the term of the equipment rental agreement, Tornabeni and Wold were involved in a romantic relationship. How should this relationship have affected the parties’ ethical choices with respect to their business deal? Discuss.