Legal Framework of Business - Midterm

US Supreme Court

What is the highest court in the US?

John Roberts (Chief Justice), Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Antonin Scalia, Ketanji Brown Jackson

Who are the 9 Supreme Court justices?

Writ of certiorari (want to hear the case)

If 4/9 justices vote to hear the case, then it will be heard

11 numbered circuits + DC circuit

How many circuit court of appeals are there?

94

How many Federal Judicial Districts are there in the US?

NDNY, EDNY, SDNY, WDNY

What are NY’s 4 judicial districts?

Highest Appellate Court: Supreme Court of the State

What is the highest level of the State Court System?

New York State Court of Appeals

What is the highest level of the State Court System in NY?

Appellate Court

What is the intermediate level of the State Court System?

Supreme Court of State of NY Appellate Division

What is the intermediate level of the State Court System in NY?

General Trial Court

What is the lowest level of the State Court System?

NY State Supreme Court

What is the lowest level of the State Court System in NY?

Probate Courts

What court deals with administration of trust, states, and wills

Family Courts

What court deals with divorce and child custody issues

Stare Decisis (let the decision stand)

Definition: A court follows earlier judicial decisions when the same issue arises in other cases

They are appointed for life by the citic president and are subject to senate confirmation

How are Federal Judges appointed?

They are elected then voted in by the state

How are State Court Judges appointed?

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Definition: Authority to hear a particular type of case

Intellectual property rights (copyright, package trademarks), statutory provision

What types of cases are exclusively federal?

Diversity of Citizenship

Definition: Each of the plaintiffs is domiciled in a state different than each of the defendants, and the amount of controversy exceeds $75k

Indicia of Intent

Definition: Your intent (objective/subjective) as to where your home is

The Nerve Center

Definition: For a corporation, this is the place where high-level executives direct control and implement corporate policy

Dicta

Definition: What surrounds the decision but not the decision itself

Diversity of Citizenship

Definition: A form/type of concurrent jurisdiction

Concurrent Jurisdiction

Definition: Option to bring the case to Federal or State Court

1. Each defendant must be domiciled in a different state, 2. The amount in controversy must exceed $75k

What is necessary for a Diversity of Citizenship jurisdiction?

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Definition: Whether or not a case can go to Federal Court or State Court

Personal Service of Process or Long Arm Jurisdiction

What are the two types of In Personam Jurisdiction?

Personal Service of Process

Definition: People who are residents of the state in which the lawsuit is being brought or who are temporarily present in the state in which the lawsuit is brought

Long Arm Jurisdiction

Definition: The defendant has committed acts outside of the state which caused injury in the state if the defendant regularly does business in the state or derives revenue from the state or otherwise engages in a persistent course of conduct in the state

Lloyd Haul

Who is considered a judgement-proof defendant in the VW case?

Volkswagen

Who is considered a deep-pocketed defendant in the VW case?

Proximate Cause

Definition: Nearest cause in time and space

Cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law

What is the Due Process Clause?

In order for the personam of jurisdiction, the US Supreme Court requires that the defendant have sufficient, minimum contacts with the forum state such that the states assertion of jurisdiction over the defendant does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice

What is the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment?

Intentional Torts

Definition: Requires intent; defendant desires to cause consequences or defendant reasonably knows or should have known that those consequences are substantially likely to result

Negligence

Definition: Does not require intent; focused on the actions of the defendant irrespective of intent; reasonableness or lack thereof of defendant’s actions and whether those actions caused the harm; does not matter what defendant desired or knows or should have known

Compensation, Reallocation, Deterrence

What are the three reasons to study tort laws?

Compensation

Definition: Want to ____ victims for harm they suffer as a result of others’ tortious actions against them; losses they have incurred

Reallocation

Definition: Injured is already suffering the cost (harm); want to ___ some of that by imposing the burden of loss on the wrongdoer

Deterrence

Definition: Want to ___ people from doing certain things that the law has deemed are wrongful and could lead to harm (ex: criminal penalties, imposing monetary damages)

Respondeat Superior - let the superior respond

Definition: Businesses may be liable for torts committed by employees if torts are committed within the scope of business; the liability could run up to the company, rather than the individual person based on attractive defendants

Battery

Definition: Intentional infliction of harmful or offensive bodily contact

Assault

Definition: Intentional contact directed at another which places another person in apprehension of imminent bodily harm (that person must have knowledge of the imminence of the threat)

False Imprisonment (False Arrest)

Definition: Intentional confining of a person against her will within fixed boundaries without justification, if the person is conscious of the confinement or is harmed by it

Infliction of Emotional Distress

Definition: When a person by extreme and outrageous conduct intentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional distress to another

Falsity, Publication, Negligence/Scienter, Reputational Harm

What are the four elements to a defamation claim?

False or misleading information, Publicity, Reckless disregard of knowledge (scienter)

What are the three elements of False Light?

Tort Law

Definition: Gives persons redress from civil wrongs or injuries to their person, property, and economic interests

Punitive (exemplary) Damages

Definition: Damages over and above the amount necessary to compensate the plaintiff

Recklessness

Definition: Conduct that evidences a conscious disregard of or an indifference to the consequences of the act committed

Appropriation

Definition: Unauthorized use of the plaintiff’s name or likeness for the defendant’s benefit

Right of Publicity

Definition: Seeks to protect the individual’s right to the exclusive use of his identity

Intrusion

Definition: Unreasonable and highly offensive interference with the solitude or seclusion of another

False Light

Definition: Imposes liability for publicity that is highly offensive if the defendant knew or acted in reckless disregard of the fact that the matter publicized was false

Disparagement (injurious falsehood)

Definition: Imposes liability upon a person who publishes a false statement that results in harm to another’s interest which have pecuniary value, if the publisher knows that the statement is false or acts in reckless disregard of its truth or falsity

Negligence

Definition: Failure to exercise reasonable care under given circumstances which, in fact, and proximately causes harm

Did the defendant act reasonably? Did the failure to act reasonably cause harm? What is the harm? Are there any defenses?

What questions should you ask to address negligence cases?

Contributory Negligence

Definition: If the plaintiff was at all responsible/to blame for their own injury, the plaintiff’s monetary recovery will be zero

Pure and Modified

What are the two forms of comparative negligence?

Pure

Definition: You apportion the damages according to the fault of each party

Modified

Definition: Damages are apportioned according to fault unless plaintiff is equally or more to blame/at fault than the defendant, in which case, the plaintiff recovers zero

Comparative negligence and Assumption of the risk

What are the defenses in a negligence case?

Implied assumptions and Expressed assumptions

What are the two ways in which you can assume risk?

Strict Liability

Definition: Based upon the nature of the activity in which he is engaging

Liability for physical and emotional harm

Definition: Addresses general or basic elements of the tort action for liability for accidental personal injury, property damage, and emotional harm; does not cover liability for economic loss

Physical harm

Bodily harm (physical injury, illness, disease, and death) or property damage (physical impairment of real property or tangible personal property)

Liability for economic harm

Definition: Involves economic loss or pecuniary harm not resulting from physical harm or physical contact to a person or property

Defamation and privacy

Definition: Addresses torts dealing with personal and business reputation and dignity

Remedies

Definition: Covers tort damages and other ___, including the identification of the types of recoverable damages and the measurement of damages

Duty of care, Breach of duty, In Fact Causation, Proximate Causation, Harm

What are the five elements of action for negligence?

Duty of care

Definition: That a legal duty required the defendant to conform to the standard of conduct established for the protection of others

Breach of duty

Definition: That the defendant failed to exercise reasonable care

Factual cause

Definition: That the defendant’s failure to exercise reasonable care, in fact, caused the harm the plaintiff sustained

Harm

Definition: That the ____ sustained is of a type protected against negligent conduct

Scope of liability

Definition: That the harm sustained is within the ___ ___ ___ which historically has been referred to as “proximate cause”

The reasonable person

Definition: Fictitious individual who is always careful and prudent and never negligent

Superior skill or knowledge

Definition: If a person has skills or knowledge beyond those possessed by most others, these skills or knowledge are circumstances to be taken into account in determining whether the person has acted with reasonable care

Standard for emergencies

Definition: ____ is a sudden and unexpected event that calls for immediate action and permits no time for deliberation

Duties of possessors of land

Definition: By use of their land, they cannot cause unreasonable risks of harm to others

Trespasser

Definition: Someone who is on your land without your consent

Licensee

Definition: Invited social guests that are on land with consent by invitation

Invitee

Definition: People on the land for a public purpose

Public invitee

Definition: Person invited to enter or remain on land as a member of the public for a purpose for which the land is held open to the public

Business visitor

Definition: Person invited to enter or remain on the premises for a purpose directly or indirectly concerning business dealings with the possessor of the land

Res Ipsa Loquitor – the thing speaks for itself

Definition: When the accident causing the plaintiffs physical harm is a type of accident that ordinarily happens as a result of the negligence of a class of actors of which the defendant is the relevant member

Only the defendant

Who is the only one allowed to set up the facts in a Res Ipsa Loquitor (the thing speaks for itself) case?

But-for-test

Definition: A person’s conduct is a cause of an event if the event would not have occurred ___ ___ the person’s negligent conduct

Intervening cause

Definition: An event or act that occurs after the defendant’s negligent conduct and, together with the defendant’s negligence, causes the plaintiff’s harm

Superseding cause

Definition: Relieves the defendant of liability for harm to the plaintiff caused, in fact, by both the defendant’s negligence and the intervening event or act

Pure comparative negligence

Definition: Apportions damages between the parties in proportion to the degree of fault or negligence found against them

Expressed assumption of the risk

Plaintiff expressly agrees to assume the risk of harm from the defendant’s conduct

Implied assumption of the risk

Definition: Plaintiff voluntarily proceeds to encounter a known danger

Strict liability, absolute liability, liability without fault

Definition: Because certain types of otherwise socially desirable activities pose sufficiently high risks of harm regardless of how carefully they are conducted, those who perform these activities should bear the cost of any harm they cause

Abnormally dangerous and keeping of animals

Which activities give rise to strict liability?

1. The activity creates a foreseeable and highly significant risk of physical harm even when reasonable care is exercised by all actors, 2. The activity is not one of common usage

When would an activity be considered abnormally dangerous?

Keeping of animals

Definition: Those who possess animals for their own purposes do so at their peril and must protect against the harm those animals may cause to people and property

Trespassing animals

Definition: Owners and possessors of animals (except for dogs and cats) are subject to strict liability for physical harm their animals cause by trespassing on the property of another

Nontrespassing animals

Definition: Owners and possessors of wild animals are subject to strict liability for physical harm caused by such animals, whether they are trespassing or not

Wild animals

Definition: Those that, in the particular region in which they are kept, are known to be likely to inflict serious damage and cannot be considered safe, no matter how domesticated they become