What are three positive and three negative points for each side of the issue.?

What do you explain to the family why you took this position?

Marie worried about her future. She certainly had plenty of serious issues to consider - her arthritis, the asthma, the financial pinch, and the ranch, but she was sure caught by surprise when she received a letter from Firsey and Associates, a law firm from Rapid City that represents plaintiff clients in personal injury lawsuits. The letter was addressed to both Bonnie and Marie, as co-owners of Wyoming Breeze Soaps, the manufacturers of the soap, and to the retailer of a small boutique in Rapid City who sold the soap. They were being sued for an accident that had occurred to a 12-year-old girl in Rapid City using a bar of their handmade soap! The child had cut her arm from a shard of glass that was embedded in the soap. The victim and her family filed a personal injury suit claiming the injury was caused by negligence and recklessness of the manufacturers of Wyoming Breeze Soaps and the boutique owner, and as a result the girl suffered physical and emotional pain, financial loss, and disfigurement. The family was claiming financial compensation for the girl's physical injury, emotional distress, pain and suffering, medical bills, and future physical therapy. Marie and Bonnie could not imagine how a piece of glass had gotten into the soap. They were so careful, and there had never been any complaints about the quality of the soap in the past. After all, this was such a small business. Why would they have even thought about something like this happening? They had kept the business as a partnership. They hadn't considered whether they should have incorporated it as a separate entity. It wasn't a "serious" business; it was just a fun homebusiness that provided the two of them some time together and some extra money each month. Bonnie and Marie couldn't think of anything that could have explained how the glass got into the soap. Perhaps something must have broken in the kitchen when they were making soap and they hadn't noticed that a piece of glass had landed in the lye solution. They now worried that more shards of glass might be in other bars of soap. They really had no way of knowing what batch had been affected. The one thing Marie knew was that this was going to be expensive and stressful. She felt so vulnerable and worried about an unknown future. She would need to retain a lawyer, and she felt that she and Bonnie really couldn't keep the business going with this financial threat hanging over them. Marie Flemming faced the threat of personal injury lawsuit as she faced all of ifle's probilems - head on. She met with the Olfice of Legal Aid to the Elderty, a division of Legal Assistance Foundation of Wyoming. Nebraska, and South Dokota a not-for-profit corporation that provides tree logal servioes to individuals unabie to alford private legal services. For crer 25 years, the foundation has been engaged in legal work to protect the weak and vulnerable trom fraud and unscrupulous business practices. It didnt take them long to research the case. The resuits of the invesfigation stunned Marie. The Firsey lww firm was known in the Rapid City area for finding clients who would agree to press lawsults taking advartage of elderly people. The girl who had been cut on her arm had sustained the injury trom another cause not associated with the soap. Within a short while, Marie, Bonrie, the boutique owner, and Wyoming Bveese Saps were released trom the threat of lawsult. Leaming a valuable lesson trom the experience. Marie and Bonrie closed their soap business. Athough relieved, Marie was womed about the loss of her share of the proceeds. She worried about what was to become of her. Would she have to leave the ranch and live in a nursing home? Could she take care of herselt tinancialy? How could she afford to keep the ranch? She docided an was time to talk to her children about her concems, Marie hosted a tamiy meeting at the fanch. Suzanne, Jake Jr. and Bonnie and their spouses attended. Aftor considerable discussion, everyone teached an agroement that Jake Jr. was in the best position to attend to their mother's financial concerns because he was an accountant and, after all, he was the son. Over the next two months, Jabee spent time with Marie reviewing her financial and logal papers. They met with her bariker to review the financial accounts of the ranch. When Jake Sr. died, he and Marie did not have an estate plan, and Marie hadnt done anything about it since his deuth. That had always. been a concem for their three children. Bonnie, Suzanne, and Jake Jr had hestaled to discuss estale planning with their mother for fear of upsetting her or appearing to be greedy. Another reason they had newer discussed what would happen to the ranch was that the theee of them did not agree about 2. Both Bonnie and Suzanne loved the ranch and couldht imagine it belonging to someone outside of their tarnily. Jake Jr, had been refeved to leave ? when he lett for college and was glad to be bving 290 miles away. Jake was alarmed at the amount of debt scin hanging over the tamily ranch. He was sware that the price of cattle had been low for too long and was concerned that the rancher who leased part of the ranch soon would terminate the lease due to poor poonomic conditions. The taxes were increasing it seemed to Jake that just about any kind of imestrnent would be better than what they would be facing soon. Therefore, he starled talikg to his mother about seling the ranch and investing the money. He pointed out that the decision to sed was based on economics and that the oebt made in unleasible to continue. He explained, When you're in debt, you dont really own the property aryway. The bank does. Heck, by soling the ranch and investing the money, the estate issue would be settiod. The sale will pay for your retinement, Mom, and it will assure the three of us kids of a far compensation eventually when the imvestments start paying oft." Alhough sad about the stuanion. if made sonse to Marie. She had hurig on for a long time, but she could see that they were vulnerable to the same pressures that forced their neighbors to sel out. This week when Bonnie had lunch with her mother, something her mother said made her inquie how Jake J. Was doing holping her with her finances. Mario assured Bonnie that she was relevod that Jake had taken charge because she felt a big weight was litled off her shoulders. She told Bonnie that he was looking into selling the ranch and investing the money. Bornie tried not to show her mother how shaken she was. Trying to remain composed, she pointed out that they really noeded to take some time before making such a final decision. Atfer all, the ranch soon would be worth a lot more. especially now that develogment was starting all around them. There were two subdivisions sprouting up just east of them and more soon to lollow. Surely Jake could come up with some way to help her make ends meet other than selling the entire ranch. What about seling some of the back forty" for development and keeping the rest of the ranch? As soon as she got home, she called Suzanne. The first thing Suzanne did ather the call was to make an appointment with an atlorney to discuss the tamily estate sibuation