LEGAL AND REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS
LEGAL STUDIES 2700
CASES AND READINGS
ELIZABETH J. MUSTARD


1. Darden Case. Three years ago the Darden Corporation bought a thousand acres of land that borders the Potowac River in Washam County. While waiting on development opportunities, Darden cut timber to help repay the mortgage loan it took out to buy the land. On March 2, the Washam County Commission proposed an oredinance to establish a 250-foot-wide greenway along the south side of the Potowac that will effectively ban both development and timbering on nearly 80 acres of Darden's land. The same day in an unrelated accident a Darden truck ran over a hunter who was hunting without permission on the company's land. Based on our readings and discussions in class, what legal issues do you see presented in this fact scenario?

2. Pierson v. Post (Supreme Court of NY 1805) excerpt
    "... Post, being in possession of certain dogs and hounds under his command, did, 'upon a certain wild and uninhabited, unpossessed and waste land, called the beach, find and start one of those noxious beasts called a fox,' and whilst there hunting, chasing and pursuing the same with his dogs and hounds, and when in view thereof, Pierson, well knowing the fox was so hunted and pursued, did in the sign of Post, to prevent his catching the same, kill and carry it off."

3. Mark a citizen of Georgia was crossing a street in Atlanta when he was struck by a car driven by David a citizen of New York visiting Atlanta. The car was owned by David's employer, a Delaware corporation that has its principal place of business in Atlanta, Georgia. Mark sues both David and the corporation in federal district court in Atlanta alleging damages in the amount of $500,000. Does the court have subject matter jurisdiction?

4. Congress passes a law prohibiting kite flying on Sundays. The law provides that anyone who disagrees with it may challenge the law in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia. Bob doesn't like this law and files suit against the government in the appropriate federal court. What will the government do?

5. Smith, a resident of Michigan, was in Florida for a business meeting where he was served with a divorce petition filed by his wife, who had moved to Florida recently. Smith objected to the Florida court's exercise of personal jurisdiction.

6. Robbie finds a stone that appears to be valuable and shows it to his friend Janet. The two do not know what the stone is but think it is a topaz. Robbie agrees to sell the stone to Janet for $100. The parties subsequently discover that the stone is a diamond worth $1,000. Robbie cannot void the contract on mutual mistake grounds because the parties knew that their assumption about the stone was doubtful.

7. Buyer agrees to purchase cotton from Seller when the cotton is delivered by a ship named Peerless. This is the total expression of the agreement. It is subsequently determined that Buyer contemplated a ship named Peerless that was to dock in September while Seller contemplated a ship named Peerless that was to dock in December. Neither party was aware that there were two ships named Peerless. Their subsequent expression of the ship each intended indicates that they did not intend the same ship at the time of contracting. Therefore, there is no contract. Raffles v. Wichelhaus 159 Eng. Rep. 375 (1864)

8. Lulu is shopping and a salesclerk thinks Lulu has placed a makeup case in her purse. The salesclerk calls store security who roughly drags Lulu to his office and tells her she is suspected of shoplifting. He leaves her locked in the office for 3 hours, periodically demanding she tell him what has happened.

9. You are concerned because several or your employees have recently broken their employment contracts and left town. Investigation reveals that Sly and Company, your competitor in a nearby city, has paid bonuses to your former employees to persuade them to break their contracts. What legal steps are available against Sly?

10. Acme Airlines attempts to get control of Free Fall Airways by making a public offer to buy its stock from shareholders. Free Fall's president, Joan, advises the shareholders in a letter that Acme's president, Richard, is "little better than a crook" and "can't even control his own company."

11. A jury finds Lee, the defendant, liable in a tort case. It determines that Jose, the plaintiff, has suffered $200,000 in damages. The jury also finds that Jose' own fault contributed 25% to his injuries. Under a comparative negligence instruction, what amount of damages will the jury award the P?

12. D is a director of Blasting Inc. which is a reporting company. In 2005 D bought 700 shares of Blasting stock for $10/share. In January 2007 D sold 700 shares for $6/share. In March 2007 D bought 200 shares of Blasting stock for $1/share. What result

13. Lisa a lawyer for Zinrod Co. learns that Zinrod Co is planning to merge with Zipper Corporation. Lisa telephones her son-in-law Joe about this and urges him to buy Zinrod Co. stock. Acting on this tip, Joe buys the stock.

14. Palsgraff v. Long Island Railroad Co.
    Defendant was waiting for a train on a train platform when a train stopped at the station. Two men caught the train as it was pulling away from the station. The first man got on OK, but the second was unsteady and was pulled up onto the train by a RR security guard. As the man was pulled up, he dropped an unmarked package (wrapped in brown paper).
Nothing about the appearance of the packages indicated its contents. The package contained fireworks, which discharged. The explosion knocked down some scales at the other end of the platform many feet away, and the scales struck and injured the plaintiff.