Class: Business Law

Assignment: Issue Spotter

This "issue spotter" will present you with a scenario drawn from multiple situations with legal risks. Your job is to find and analyze the potential legal, ethical, and stakeholder issues. Your response should be a memo with an introduction, bullet points of the following manner, and a conclusion.

Bullet points should take the following form. First, specify the situation from the scenario. Second, identify the legal or ethical issue. Third, specify the elements of the risk or the ethical framework to discuss. Fourth, analyze the situation. Fifth, come to a conclusion $($in bold$).$ In a question concerning contracts, you should include the possible remedy for breach of contract, if any, in the conclusion. For example: Jake breaks a contract to deliver a software product by Nov. $1.$ This is potentially a breach of contract. A contract is breached when one party fails to perform the contract as agreed. Jake does not seem to have defenses such as unconscionability, mistake, fraud or duress. As Kari was able to secure an alternative solution at a cost of $$10,000$ more, Jake likely owes Kari $$10,000.$ This is most likely a breach of contract, in which Jake will owe Kari $$10,000.$

The scenario to analyze:

When discussing liability, remember to consider all potentially liable parties, using principles from business organizations and agency law! We return to our account of Boise Specialty Foods, LLC $($BSF$)$ from the Group Issue Spotter. At the conclusion of the last scenario, Able ripped up Fran$$s check and refused to sell the business. Able managed to settle all the lawsuits against the business or have them dismissed in court. BSF opened up an additional food truck which specialized in desserts, called $$Pie in the Sky$.$ Things turned around over the next three years. With the businesses looking successful, Able has not worried much about business $$formalities$.$ For instance, Able has never gotten around to establishing a separate bank account for BSF$,$ and moves most of BSF$$s profits straight to his retirement account so that his personal checking account usually has a balance of $$500$ or less. With things looking up$,$ Able was optimistic. Then came $2023.$

The year started off well, except a customer $($Brandy$)$ at Pie in the Sky gagged on a worm fragment in a slice of apple$-$cherry pie and has been threatening to sue for emotional damages. Able is unsure how the worm made it into the pie, as after prior events he instituted top$-$of$-$the$-$line quality control procedures in all his food trucks.

Able$$s food$-$related liability issues continued when the company sponsored a hot$-$dog cannon at a Boise State football game. $($A hot dog cannon is a device that shoots hot dogs wrapped in foil into the stands.$)$ A hot dog struck a fan $($Carl$)$ in the eye. Carl had recently undergone eye surgery, and the strike from the hot dog detached Carl$$s retina in their right eye. Carl has sued both BSF$,$ Boise State, and Able personally for negligence. His theory against Able is that Able $$owes a professional duty as a food truck owner not to cause harm to people.$$

The employee $($Dan$)$ that had been operating the hot dog cannon was upset by the events at the football game. After hitching Pie in the Sky $($which had been serving customers outside the football stadium$)$ at halftime up to his pickup, rather than driving the trailer back to its storage location in Meridian as Able had instructed him to do after the game, he drove it to his home in Nampa. While a block away from his house, Dan carelessly hit Esther with the truck while she was in a crosswalk. She suffered a broken pelvis. Able fired Dan the moment he heard about this. Dan retorted $$You$$ll see! I$$ve secured a patent for an entirely new food truck design, which will soon put you out of business! Plus, you$$re discriminating against me because of something accidental. That$$s illegal.$$

Able then drove his own truck to the scene of the accident to pick up the food truck. He found that Dan had left the food truck parked in the driveway of a local homeowner, Esther $($from the paragraph above$),$ who was unable to back her car out of the garage and complained that $$now I$$m late for work, and I$$ll probably get fired!$$

Later in $2023,$ Dan$$s new competing food truck $$Pye in the Skye$$ started eating into foot traffic at Pie in the Sky$.$ To keep the business away from bankruptcy without cutting employee hours or pay, Able began to cut corners with food safety guidelines, such as rules for how quickly food needs to be cooled, or how to defrost items from the freezer. No customer have become ill, and Able knows similar practices are followed by many other food trucks in the area.

At the same time, frustrated with these unforeseen challenges, Able looks up Fran $($from the Group Issue Spotter problem$)$ online and sends her an email that states: $$You know, I will take you up on that offer you made. Sold for $$10,000.$