SB assess 2 2021

DRAFTING THE CASE BRIEF

Hello class. My name is Jerry Lulejian. I am one of the professors of the Business 2021 class, Fundamentals of Business Law, and we’re going to go over how to brief a legal case. We’re going to find that it’s very important to be able to do so for the two assessments that we have in the class on contracts and torts.

However, before we go into how to brief the case, we’re Let’s first understand why we need it to brief a case and why we need to do it in a particular way. In business, you, as a manager of the business, will be required to keep your company’s activities within the law so that the law becomes the protection of the company rather than inviting needless litigation and liability.

Although you will not be required to rise to the level of an attorney in your understanding of the law. You will be required to understand certain statutes, regulations, and case decisions that will guide your company in how to comply with the law. Thus, one thing you must be able to do is to distill the essence of the important information from a case decision that may affect your business.

This will allow you to understand the nature of the law that regulates your business and what operational changes you may need to make in your company to comply with the law. For example, McDonald’s was sued by a lady who spilled coffee on herself. She was sent to the burn ward and almost died from third degree burns over a large percentage of her lower body.

McDonald’s took the wrong position in the trial court by its sanctimonious attitude that they serve hot coffee so they did nothing wrong. However, McDonald’s coffee is served at a temperature of around 195 degrees rather than the normal temperature of about 130 to 140 degrees for coffee that is served at home.

Testimony at trial established that coffee at McDonald’s temperature would literally burn your skin off in 3 to 5 seconds of exposure. Essentially, it is scalding hot. Since this lady had sweat pants on at the time she spilled the coffee, she could not get it off in time to prevent major burns and a trip to the burn ward.

Not only McDonald’s, but other companies have learned from this decision that they must do something about this insidious danger of their coffee to people who are not expecting that it is scalding hot and do not handle it accordingly. Instead, they will handle the coffee as they would at home. Where they know that if they spill it on themselves, they will only get a minor burn.

Thus, McDonald’s and other companies that serve coffee this hot, have two choices. First, they can reduce the temperature to something that would be more consistent with how people brew coffee at home. Or, second, they can give adequate warnings on the cup that it contains coffee that is scalding hot and will create third degree burns if spilled on oneself.

Any business manager in the restaurant business that serves coffee this hot would be expected to decide on how to do either of these two things to protect the company. That’s just an example of one case where a case decision came down, where McDonald’s was literally not only hit with a good couple hundred thousand dollars in damages, but was then hit with, I think it was something close to two million dollars in punitive damages as punishment for their taking that sanctimonious attitude towards people’s health in this particular case.

We can see it. It’s very significant that people follow this decision, first understand it and then follow it to make sure that they don’t end up in the same position that McDonald’s found themselves in. All right. So how exactly do we brief a case? There is a method, and it’s used by lawyers, and what it does is it distills the needed information from a case, just like lawyers do so that we can understand the nature of the case and how it might apply to our company’s operations.

We do not want to take too much information out of a case because it will become confusing to us if we get too much information. We only want what we need and nothing more. The cases that we are dealing with often are very complex and involve many issues that are decided by the court. And we only want that case for one particular issue.

And we need to make sure that everything is simple and easy to understand so we can then apply it to help us in our business. So this method, It’s been called the IRAC method. That’s I R A C. It’s an acronym for Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion. I take that and make it a little bit different into the, what is called the FIRAC method, which is an F I R A C, meaning Facts.

Issue, rule, analysis, and conclusion. These are the categories of the information that you want to distill out of a case. So let’s go into, first let’s look at an issue in the case. We can look at the facts later as we’ll see. It’s important first to look at the issue of a case. And the reason why is that what issue is decided has everything to do with whether that case will apply to our particular business or not.

In essence, If the case applies to an issue that has nothing to do with our business whatsoever, that case has no applicability to us. So we want to look at that issue to see what question was answered by the appellate court through some ruling so that we actually get an idea of the answer to that question.

As it may apply to our business. For example, in the McDonald’s case, we would want to know whether McDonald’s was liable for selling the scalding hot coffee, and most certainly they were and were not only liable for the compensatory damages for the loss of medical expenses and so on, but also a very hefty amount of punitive damages for their attitude towards people’s health.

All right, so let’s look at first the issue. Now when you go into a case, you’re going to find that the issue generally is expressible in a single sentence with a question mark at the end. It’s a single sentence with a question mark at the end. It’s simply a question, and that question then will be answered by the case.

So without knowing the issue, we will not be able to understand the case fully because the case is entirely about answering the question involved in the issue. That’s what the appellate court does. In fact, the first thing we look for in the case is what was the issue that was to be decided. Do not be concerned with the facts at first that there may be more than one issue also in a case.

Don’t be too concerned with that as we’re only going to brief the issue that is important to us in our business. Okay? So we’re going to go through and I’m going to show you exactly how to get an issue out of a case. And Literally, to express it as a single sentence with a question mark at the end.

Next, we’re going to look for the rule of law that was applied to the case. The rule of law is very important because we want to know what rule was there, out there, that applied in this case so that we can see that rule of law being put into action in a set of circumstances or facts, and get a feel for how that rule of law might apply.

Come against us at some time in the future. Rule of law could be either a statute could even be a constitutional provision possibly in business, that’s possible. It could be a regulation of one of the many regulatory agencies, or it could be case law where the case law itself makes up the rule because there is no law for the court to use to make decisions.

And in that case, the court will make up its own rule. And so you have to actually know the case in order to know what the rule of law is. All right, so we look for a description of the rule of law that’s applied to the case as follows. the first aspect of this rule of law category, which could literally be put under the words rule of law and then write out the actual rule of law, meaning a description of what that rule is.

We don’t have to worry so much about exactly what the statute number is or any of that sort of thing. We simply want to know what is the rule, write out the actual rule itself. Now, sometimes this is, Difficult to find because sometimes the case is all about deciding which rule of law was going to apply to the case.

And when that happens, it means that this aspect of the case is going to be difficult to find because you’ll have to find out what rule was actually finally applied in the case. Other cases, it’s very clear what the rule of law was and the question was, does it apply to these facts? Then the rule of law becomes very simple and very easy to find.

Essentially what we’re going to do is we’re going to paraphrase the law itself. that was ultimately used by the court in making its decisions. So sometimes, again, it’s difficult when the case is all about which rule of law should apply of the many that could possibly apply and very simple when it is very clear what the rule of law is and the only question is whether it applies to these facts and how.

Next would be the analysis section. The analysis section gives us a couple of things. First, it gives us the court’s reasoning process in applying the rule of law to the facts of the case to come to its conclusion. That’s what the analysis section is. It’s the court essentially telling you how and why it came to its decision using that rule of law and applying it to the facts of the case.

But it also gives us what are called the key facts of the case. Those are the facts that are important to the case. This will be important to you as business people because you need to know whether or not. Those key facts are something very similar to what you would be doing in your business and therefore this case becomes a particularly applicable to your company.

For example, in the McDonald’s case, the key facts were that they were selling coffee that was scalding hot that it was not known to the customers that the coffee was scalding hot. And next the it’s, obvious that people do not know that coffee is brewed that hot since they brew it only at about 130 to 140 degrees at home.

And therefore, they were essentially misled in handling this coffee because they, if they’d known that it was basically going to hurt them very badly, if it were to spill on themselves, they would certainly have handled it, handled differently. Okay. So the analysis section is this process the court goes through and we want to paraphrase and summarize that actual reasoning process and make sure that those key facts that it pulls out of the fact section are also listed as part of our analysis.

I’ll show you how we do this on a particular case. Last is the conclusion. That’s usually very easy. That is what did the court do with the case. Did it affirm the underlying judgment? Did it reverse the judgment? Did it make a ruling and then send the case back for additional proceedings in the trial court?

What exactly did it do? That, that just gives you an idea of who won the case, essentially by the conclusion itself. All right, so now we’re going to go directly into a case, one involving an ambiguous term of a contract and we’re going to look at this case. You’ll find it actually in the Coppola Library, and I’m bringing it here to you on screen so you can actually see the case and its published opinion, because that’s what you’re going to do when you choose a case, is you’re going to get a published opinion in contracts and again in torts for the two assessments we’re going to do.

And then you’re going to brief that case, and then we’re going to do some additional things in addition to just briefing the case, but we’ll go through those in just a moment. So get ready for looking specifically at a case involving the word chicken. All right, this is a 1960. New York case Frigaliment Importing Company versus BNS International Sales Corporation.

And this was a contract for the sale of chicken. The word chicken was the only word actually used for the commodity that was going to be part of the transaction. And we see right off the bat, the judge has told us what the issue is. It actually says, the issue is, what is chicken? Plaintiff says chicken means a young chicken suitable for broiling and frying.

Defendant says chicken means any bird of that genus that meets contract specifications on weight and quality, including what it calls stewing chicken, and plaintiff’s pejorative terms, fowl. Okay, that’s the issue. The issue is, what does the word chicken mean? Because one party thought it meant the broiler chickens.

Plaintiff. And the other thought it meant stewing chickens, which are definitely different in quality. And you can see there is an ambiguous term of the contract. Alright, so this is the first aspect of the case. You’ve got it right off the bat. It came out as literally the first and second sentence of the case.

That’s not always the case. You may find the issue described later. And in some cases you don’t actually see the issue expressed, but you can know what it is by the decision that is made. Now we will go on to the rule of law of the case, and this one is One where there was a contention that Mr. Stovicek was authorized to make representations for one of the parties.

And they answered the word, any kind of chickens, as a way of widening this to any kind of chicken. And therefore giving some meaning to the word chicken as any kind of chicken. However This did not help because, as we’ll see, if you look here, plaintiff cannot, at the same time, rely on his cable to Stovicek as its dictionary to, The meaning of the contract and repudiate the interpretation given the dictionary by the man in whose hands it was put.

That’s a restatement of law agency. In essence, the stoic, whether or not he was an agent and able to make representations or not, he cannot change the nature of the contract when it says the word chicken. And therefore, In this case, that’s the rule of law that basically ended up deciding this case. And that’s because there was no way to take this out of the written contract where the word chicken was the only word given.

And of course, when it’s chicken, it can literally be any kind of chicken, so long as it meets the quality and the weight requirements that were in the contract for that chicken. All right, so that is the rule of law, and it’s an unusual one here because it’s not really clear it’s not the clearest rule of law in the world, but that’s the rule law that was finally applied.

And of course, there’s always a rule of law, and that is that when there’s a substantial breach of contract the offending party must pay compensation to the non breaching party. That’s not here, but that is implied in the ruling in any way. That’s, that is the rule of law. It’s very clear to this case.

It’s not where they’re wondering what kind of law there is out there. But it is a matter of simply deciding on what the contract meant from an objective point of view given the fact that the person who, supply the stewing chickens, question is whether or not that was within the terms of the contract, really what it all came down to.

Now getting into the analysis of the case they brought out the fact that the Department of Agriculture has chickens very different types. There’s the broiler or the fryer, the roaster, the capon, or the stag, the hen, or stewing chicken. There’s also the cock or old rooster, which is probably the lowest form of chicken to be sold.

And then the question is then, since there are so many different types of chicken, when you use the word chicken what does that mean? This is what the court decided, is that it’s based on the intent of the parties, based on the objective meaning of chicken, not the subjective, because each party had a different subjective meaning of chicken.

But it’s the question is what was the intent towards an objective meaning of the word chicken. And in this case they decided that although the plaintiff could make a real good case for Why this could have been a broiler or fryer chicken the plaintiff has the burden of proof as it says here plaintiff had the burden of proof showing that the chicken was used in a broader sense and has not sustained its burden to show that the word chicken was for, only for broilers or fryers, and therefore, the defendant was not in breach of the contract, it met the the terms of the contract, and that’s it.

Now we can see that what we had was an ambiguous term, a very broad term, and we should never have allowed that to happen. Okay. Now by the way, the opinion here is that the judgment the judgment was that they dismissed the appeal and the defendant won because they provided chicken, which was a stewing chicken and met the terms of the contract as.

It is objectively understood from the writing in the contract. All right, so now we’ve gotten to the analysis and the conclusion. That’s just the first half of what you want to do, because the most important part of this assessment, both on contracts and on torts, is to have your analysis that you’ve done here now be placed into a practical use for you as a business person.

So what you want to do is, number one, you want to take this ruling and now apply it to an industry that might be affected by this ruling. And then decide how would the industry itself change its way of doing business as necessary to prevent this kind of thing from happening. And then the second thing you do, and it’s also another criteria of the assessment, is to do the same thing as to a specific named third party company.

So you actually have to name a company. It doesn’t, by the way, if you want to use your own company, you don’t want to give us the name of your company, that’s perfectly okay. But do say that it is a company that you’re now applying it to. And then, tell us how you’ve applied it and what kind of changes would be necessary.

Now, this is, we can tell regardless of whatever industry you are dealing with when it comes to the sale of a product it is absolutely of critical importance that we make it. absolutely certain what the specifications are of what we are buying. When we’re buying a product or selling a product, we must absolutely be certain that there is no ambiguity whatsoever and what it is that’s being sold and purchased.

And in this case they violated that by using the word chicken when they meant, or at least the plaintiff meant the fryer type chicken. So we can apply that to any industry. We can apply that to oh, any kind of restaurant supply business where someone’s ordering a certain type of a fish, for example.

Let’s say they want salmon. Salmon, there’s two different kinds of salmon. There’s salmon that is done through a a production process where we actually grow them in ponds. And then we have the wild salmon. Those are two different commodities, and people do differentiate between those two, and one’s worth more than the other.

In fact the wild caught salmon is worth more than the farmed salmon. Okay, so if we’re going to have a contract for salmon, we’re going to make sure that it’s wild caught, and we’re even going to describe what the word wild caught means, in terms of how it has to be, maybe, caught in the ocean, it must be caught legally it must be no more than, so many days old before it’s frozen whatever we want.

We’ve got to make sure it’s all there. Now let’s take a specific company and we are a restaurant that we know in our area. We name the restaurant. We know it sells salmon. It’s part of its menu. And now we’re going to apply that same exact ruling and the same exact analysis to that restaurant company.

We’re going to say, okay, now, when it’s buying items from its suppliers, It has to make absolutely certain that There is no doubt whatsoever as to what it is buying and what price is being paid. Without that, it’s setting itself up for exactly the kind of problem that happened here, and the seller is probably going to lose if it’s a very broad term, and the buyer is going to lose if it is a very broad term, and they get something different than what they expected.

Okay? What you do first is you analyze the case, you give us the case information. It’s it’s issue it’s rule of law it’s analysis of the court’s analysis of how it applied the rule of law to the facts of the case to both decide the case and to give us the key facts that were important to it in making its decision.

Then of course the conclusion of the case which is very easy. And then Now you take that decision and you apply it to a specific industry. This could be any industry that you want to describe. And tell us how that industry may or need to change its operating procedures to be consistent with the law that was decided in this case.

And then we’re going to do the same thing to a specific named third party company. You’ve got to name the company, not just talk about an industry, but name the exact company. When you do all those things, you should get distinguished marks on all of your assessments. All right. And if you have any questions, please feel free to ask your professor.

And feel free to send your professor a email. A version of this via email before turning it in as a way to make sure that you have done well on your assessment before you turn it in so that you can get the best feedback possible before you turn it in and get the final grade if it is a guided path or if it’s a flex path.

Certainly you want to do that before your third assessment or third attempt on the assessment because otherwise you will be out of attempts and have to do the class again. Okay, so again, if you have any questions, please feel free to correspond with your professor and they will give you the help that you need.

ASSIGNMENT

Contracts are fundamental to business transactions, forming agreements through offer, acceptance, and consideration. If one party changes the original offer, it constitutes a counteroffer, giving the other party the option to withdraw. Once terms are agreed upon and documented, the contract typically outlines remedies for breaches, such as compensation for nonperformance. Courts rely on these terms to determine the expectations of the parties if a dispute arises. Understanding contract law is crucial for professionals to navigate agreements effectively, manage breaches, and negotiate favorable terms. For example, a business manager must know how to address a suppliers failure to deliver goods on time and pursue appropriate remedies, ensuring agreements protect organizational interests and minimize disputes.

In Assessment 2, you will analyze a legal case involving a breach of contract, evaluating key elements such as offer and acceptance and examining how courts resolve contract disputes. You are also encouraged to perform the ungraded knowledge check activity to gauge your readiness before completing the assessment. These activities will allow you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each partys arguments real-world contract scenarios, deepening your understanding of contract law and providing you with practical insights into how contracts are formed, enforced, and breached in business settings.

Preparation

• The first step in preparing your case law analysis is to choose a legal decision involving contracts. In your briefing, you must be able to understand the courts decision, summarize it, and evaluate it. You may choose any publicly available legal case involving a breach of contract or dispute arising from a contractual agreement. To help you get started, use these useful resources to find an interesting case involving breach or a contractual dispute:
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    • This section of your reading list includes several sites you can search from.
• Review the media activity to review parts of a written court decision to help in your analysis and evaluation.
• Also review the media activity.
  • This multimedia will help you to understand the reading materials and articles you find.
  • Click Transcript. (After you open the multimedia, the Transcript link is located at the lower right corner of the screen.)
  • Use the transcript as another resource to quickly look up some of the more common terms. This terminology will be useful in personal, scholarly, and professional settings.

Instructions

Once you have selected a decision and an organization impacted by the decision, imagine youre a senior manager in the organization you selected and that you were asked to prepare a briefing (34 double-spaced pages) of the court decision to help the executive team of the organization understand the impact the case might have on the company.

In your briefing, please complete the following:

1. Summarize the facts of the case.
   • Include detailed explanations of the facts.
   • Include key distinctions and nuances that enhance understanding of the case.
2. Explain all key contractual terms in dispute.
   • Include detailed and nuanced explanations of their relevance.
   • How do these terms matter in the case?
3. Apply relevant legal principles (for example, offer and acceptance, consideration, performance) accurately.
   • Demonstrate exceptional understanding and insight into how these principles relate to the case.
4. Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each partys arguments.
   • Provide insightful and nuanced analyses of each party’s arguments.
5. Analyze the courts ruling and rationale clearly and accurately.
   • Offer detailed commentary on the rationale and implications.
6. Analyze alternative outcomes clearly.
   • Argue the potential impact of these alternative outcomes.
   • Demonstrate nuanced understanding of the feasibility and implications of these outcomes.
7. Explain accurately how the ruling applies to a specific industry and third-party company.
   • This is the company and industry where you should imagine yourself to be a senior manager for this assessment.
   • It is for the real or imagined executives of this company that you write this briefing.
   • Provide these executives with concrete examples to demonstrate how they should modify their their operating procedures to be consistent with the case opinion.

Additional Requirements

Based on your executive audience, your executive briefing should be no more than four pages, in addition to a references page, and should be well organized and written in clear, succinct language. Follow APA rules for attributing content to sources that support your analysis and conclusions.

Your submission should meet the following requirements:

• Written communication: Write in complete sentences free from errors that detract from the overall message.
• Font and font size: Arial, 12 point.
• Format and length: Double-spaced, 34 pages.
• Citations: Include complete citations of your sources along with a references page. Review for more information on how to cite your sources.

Review the assessment scoring guide for details on how your assessment will be graded.

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