Business Law Course Outline/Fall 2011 Syllabus v1.0 - (Bus 110 Section 3 Tues)
Instructor: Panda Kroll, Esq. – Office Hours: Tuesday noon or by arrangement in Oxnard (Morgan Stanley tower)
Office Sage Hall Room 1115, tel. 805 551-0773, email:
Tuesday 9:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. Location: Manzanita 1149
Date /Topics To Cover In Class
/ Assignments Due Before This Class8/30 / Introduction:
The Legal Environment That We Live In
The Socratic Method: Critical Thinking via Q&A
(Applying legal rules to fact patterns)
How to: Succeed In This Class,
Homework Exchange
Exercise: Issue Spotting re: Drug Testing
Video: Age of Consent / Before Class:
Complete Survey in Blackboard (“BB”)
Complete Pre-Class Assignment in BB:
1) Read and Compare two pairs of articles in BB
(medical marijuana bust, porn resignation)
2) Locate California Penal Code section 261.5
(Age of Consent statute )
3) Complete 10 Questions in BB on Age of Consent
9/6 / Sources of Law: When Is An Act Legal or Illegal?
Drug Laws:
Is Marijuana Legal? Is Drug Testing Legal?
How to:
· Brief a case (e.g., Ross)
· Identify sources of law (“sez who?”):
criminal v. civil law, state v. federal law
common v. statutory law, public v. private law
Video: Ross lawsuit oral arguments / Drug Laws
1) Read Textbook (“text”), pages (“pp.”) 1-6, 10-13,
(esp. private v. public law, criminal v. civil law)
Exh. 1.1 Sample Case Brief
p. 92 (“What is Police Power?”)
p. 96 (state v. federal regulation, “preemption”)
2) Complete Blackboard Assignment #1 (“BB #1”)
Ross v. RagingWire (medical marijuana at work)
ALLOW 4-6 HOURS TO COMPLETE ASSIGNMENT – this will be true each week, so plan accordingly
9/13 / Sources of Ethics: What If There Are No Laws
Or The Laws Are Unfair?
Sex Laws:
Were Romeo & Juliet guilty of sex crimes?
Obscenity Laws:
Is rap music obscene?
What is “sexting,” and is it child pornography?
Video: Teens Accused of Sexting Fight Back / Sex Laws:
1) Complete BB #2A
· Obscenity
· Rap Music
· Sexting
Be prepared to discuss: How did the teens defend themselves from the threat of state criminal charges arising from their use of their cell phones?
9/20 / Cyber-Crime & Punishment,
Civil Liability for Emails and Facebook/MySpace
How to:
· Regulate “new” torts/crimes
· Distinguish criminal from civil law
· Manage your online reputation
Video: MySpace Suicide: Witness Testimony / CyberCrime, Internet Liability
1) Complete BB #2B
· Privacy & Reputation on the Internet
· Virtual Lives/Real Consequences:
· The MySpace Suicide Case
E-Mail Trouble On The Job
2) Complete BB # 2C
9/27 / Litigation In Our Judicial System:
How Does A Lawsuit Begin? Which Facts Matter?
How to:
· Write/respond to a “demand” letter
· Decide to litigate or not
· Avoid Evidence “Spoliation”
Exercise: Litigation Flowchart / What2Do When U Want2 Sue /How to Prove Your Case
1) Read BB #3
· Gov. Schwarzenegger Sues Over Bobblehead Doll
· Facebook evidence
· “Spoliation” of Bratz evidence
2) Study Ch. 3, Exhs. 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.6 and esp. 3.9
3) Read Ch. 3, pp 68-81
4) Complete Q’s Ch. 3, Case 3.3 (Wal-Mart) pp. 74-75
10/4 / CONSTITUTION EXAM (open book)
Federal & State Constitutional Controversies
Which Laws Are “Fundamental?”
Bill of Rights/Equal Protection/Due Process
· Racial Inequality in Land Ownership
· Gay Marriage: legal arguments pro and con
Which Laws Are Reserved to the States?
Commerce Clause & Regulation of Marijuana Use
Do Students Have 1st Amendment Rights?
How to: Know whether school speech
is protected or prohibited
How to: Use the 1st Amendment offensively to protect the right to express a controversial message / Fundamental Rights
1) Read Ch. 4 pp. 86-89
2) Complete BB #4A: Constitution Study Guide
(Fill In Blank Exercise to Prepare for Test)
3) Read EITHER BB #4B: Federalism:
Fed v. State marijuana regulation
OR Read BB #4C Equal Protection:
Is Gay Marriage Legal?
Student Speech Rights: T-Shirt Wars!!!
4) Complete BB #4D:
· “BONG HiTS 4 JESUS” banner
School Speech B4 and After BONG HiTS
· “Be Happy Not Gay” T-shirt
anti-abortion speech: “growing growing gone” T-shirt
10/11 / Constitutional Law, cont.:
Do Corporations Have 1st Amendment Rights?
How to: Use the 1st Amendment Act defensively to avoid liability for a controversial message
Tort Law: Intro to Risk Allocation -
Who Should Pay For Careless/Criminal Acts?
Elements of Negligence
· Duty
· Breach of Duty
· Causation/Proximate Cause
· Damages
How to: Respond to requests for references / Liability For Speech
1) Complete BB #4E
McCollum v. CBS (Ozzy Osbourne case)
Liability For Other People’s Crimes & Mistakes
2) Read Ch. 8 (the entire chapter)
3) Complete Ch. 8 Case 8.3 (Randi W.)
4) Complete BB #8A – Jenny Jones case
Liability For “Ordinary” Mistakes
5) Read BB #8B (see which topic is assigned)
-“Driving While Distracted”
- Liability of Party Hosts
- Rescue: Duty or Liability?
10/18 / Tort Law, cont.:
Are Laws Protecting Privacy & Reputations Consistent With The First Amendment?
How to: Avoid exploitation and defamation claims
Torts “Matching” Exercise
Video: Eminem “Brain Damage”
Intellectual Property Law
Quiz on IP definitions:
A. Copyright & Fair Use
B. Trademark
C. Patent
D. Trade Secret
Video: “Pretty Woman” / Reputation Torts and the First Amendment
1) Read Complete BB #8C
· Bailey v. Mathers, III (a/k/a Eminem, Slim Shady)
· “Borat” complaint and certain pages of Panda’s article
2) VIEW “BORAT” FILM IN EXTERNAL LINKS
Managing Knowledge Assets
3) Complete Q’s Case 15.1 in textbook
(Roy Orbison v. 2 Live Crew case)
4) Read Ch.15A , esp. Exh. 15.1, p. 357
5) Complete Qs BB #15A:
· A.V. v. iParadigm case
· Trade Secrets – article explaining California law
· Viacom v. YouTube – article on $1B lawsuit
STUDY FOR QUIZ ON IP DEFINITIONS
10/25 / TEST I
Trademark and Fair Use
Product Liability/False Advertising
How to know: When is advertising “false?”
How to know: When is coffee “too hot to handle”?
Video: Barbie Girl
Video: “Borat” mockumentary presentation
Pick Group Presentation Topic & Team / STUDY FOR TEST
1) Complete BB #15B
Mattel v. MCA Records (The Plastic Plaintiff)
2) Complete Q’s BB #15C
(McDonald’s hot coffee case)
11/1 / Intro to Contracts - Formation
Sources of Contract Law: UCC – Common Law
How to: Know when a contract exists
How to: Know when a contract needs to be in writing (Statute of Frauds)
Video: “Pepsi Stuff” / “Did I Agree To That?”
1) Complete BB #10 Fill in the Blank
(Common Law & UCC Contract Rules)
2) Read Ch. 10 p. 222-224, 228-230, 238-244, 249-253
Exhibits 10.3, 10.5; definition of contract p. G-4
3) Complete Case Q’s:
Ch. 10 Cases 10.2, 10.5
‘Pepsi Stuff,” “The Artist, The Crayon and the Contract”
11/8 / Contracts – Performance & Defenses
“Battle of the Forms”
What happens when businesses exchange
competing forms with different terms?
“Clickthrough” Agreements, Liability Limitations
Unconscionable Contracts
How to: avoid a warranty claim / 1) Getting Out Of A Bad Contract (Rescission) – Part 1
Complete Q’s: BB #11A – A $2 Million Mistake
2) Liability for Defective Products
Read Ch. 9, p. 209, Exhibit 9.2 (Warranties)
3) Read Ch. 11, esp. p. 258
4) Complete: BB #11B Fill in the Blank
(UCC Warranty Provisions)
11/15 / Contract - Defenses:
Fraud/Misrepresentation/Capacity
How to: Set aside/avoid/rescind a contract
How to: Prevent contract “fraud” claims
TEST II
Exercises: GroupThink
Challenger Disaster & Whistle-blowers / Getting Out Of A Bad Contract (Rescission) – Part 2
1) Complete Q’s: Case 11.2 (Haunted House)
2) Complete BB #11C Q’s:
“Young Drugged and Wealthy”
When Defects Cost Lives: Whistle Blowers
3) Complete BB #11D: Challenger Disaster
4) Read Ch. 18 pp. 400 (Protection for Whistleblowers)
STUDY FOR TEST
11/22 /
Corporate Law
And Forms of Doing Business
How to:
· Form a sole proprietorship
· Form a partnership (without really trying)· Limit liability, fund a business
Employment Law: Agency
How to: Restrict post-employment conduct
Know if you owe/ are owed overtime pay / Business Structures
1) Read Ch. 13, esp. Exhibit 13.1
2) Complete Q’s: Case 13.2
(Shot down in Ma & Pa café)
3) Complete BB #13 (business entities)
“Agents” and “Principals”
4) Read Ch. 17 pp. 384-393, 400-402, 411-412
5) Read BB#17A CA Employee/Employer Duties
6) Complete BB #17B Case Q’s (Oprah case)
In-Class: Draft of Group Project annotations
11/29 / Employment Law: Agency, cont.
Employer & Employee Liability
Employment Law: Employee Rights
Wage & Hours/ Sex Discrimination/Harassment
How to:
Avoid/ respond to harassment charges / Liability for Agent’s Mistakes
1) Read Ch. 17 pp. 395-399
esp. “Consider” 17.2, pp. 395-396
(McD’s Most Valuable Employee?)
2) Complete Q’s: Case 17.3 (Cookie Crazy)
Illegal Discrimination & Retaliation in the Workpace
3) Read BB #18A: CA Employment Law
4) Read Ch. 18 pp.416-436, esp. 426 and 428 “BFOQ”
5) Complete Q’s: Cases 18.2, 18.3 (sex discrimination)
12/6 / TEST III
Employment Law: Discriminatory Acts
Religious and Disability Discrimination
How to: Tolerate Intolerance / 1) Read BB #17B: Advanced Health Care Directive
Religious Discrimination in the Workplace
2) Read Ch. 18 “Consider” 18.3, p. 427 -
(“Church of Body Modification”)
3) Complete BB #18B
Buonanno v. AT&T
(Conservative Christians’ right to disagree w/gay-friendly workplace policies)
STUDY FOR TEST
12/13 / FINAL: MEET 8:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
Group Presentations & Peer Evaluation / Exchange Stapled Packet of Group Materials:
- Roll call, FAQ, annotations
Required Course Materials:
Textbook: Jennings (2010) Foundations of the Legal Environment of Business, First Edition.
ISBN 13: 978-0-324-56651-2; ISBN 10: 0-324-56651-4. Available for purchase or rent through the bookstore.
Blackboard – About half of your assignments are on Blackboard!
Be sure you can receive emails that I may send to announce changes or clarify assignments.
Class Preparation – 100% Attendance, 100% Homework Preparation, Three “Immunity Passes” For Bad Days
Plan for four to six hours of homework each week: 2 hours reading and re-reading assigned cases and articles and 2-4 hours preparing Case Questions and/or completing Blackboard assignments. I have done my best to make the extensive homework worth your time, by choosing “hot” topics likely to arise in your work and daily life. You will be given 3 “immunity passes” to use during the semester in case you miss class or fail to complete an assignment before class. There are 15 class meetings. I audit homework every class, sometimes by collecting homework, sometimes by having you exchange homework with a classmate. Each time you aren’t prepared and haven’t given me an “immunity pass,” or if you are absent and have used all your passes, your grade drops by 2%.
Exams:
There will be one “fill-in-the blank” open book test on the Constitution and three to four multiple choice exams.
You will not need blue books or scantrons. You will be provided with a study guide prior to each exam.
BUS 110: OVERVIEW OF COURSE AND COURSE EXPECTATIONS
This course focuses on applying critical thinking skills to solve ill-structured problems. To be successful in this course and in the job market, you will need to develop the capacity to evaluate skillfully and fairly the quality of evidence and detect error, hypocrisy, manipulation, dissembling, and bias.
WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?
- Identifying issues and prioritizing which to address;
- Using evidence, experience, and values to analyze these issues;
- Managing uncertainty and risk; and
- Making rational decisions (i.e., the best possible decisions that are sensitive to uncertainty & risk)
Course Format:
The best way to learn and to apply the law is to read about and discuss legal issues that affect us, applying critical thinking to make rational conclusions. For this reason, this is not a lecture-based class. Instead, this class requires substantial student preparation and participation. Students will discuss their responses to assigned work and apply what they have learned to hypothetical and real situations. There will be four to five tests. Students will be responsible for checking Blackboard each week for announcements, changes, clarifications and assignments, and for coming to class with homework completed on the date due. The second half of the semester will also focus on preparing group presentations.
Expectations: Attendance, Homework Exchange. Class Participation and “Immunity Passes”:
You are expected bring your syllabus, textbook and homework to class every day. All students are expected to do assigned reading and homework, attend class, arrive on time, and be prepared to exchange homework in order to participate in discussions in small groups and in class. It is inevitable that unforeseen events may prevent a student from attending class or arriving prepared to turn in/exchange homework. Each student will be given three “Immunity Passes” to use in case of an absence or incomplete assignment. Once all passes have been exhausted, students’ grade will be marked down for each absence/incomplete assignment. If a student comes in after roll is taken, the student will be marked absent unless and until the student meet with the instructor after class to audit homework and change the roll sheet.
Student Learning Outcomes/Course Objective:
The course objective is to provide student with practical knowledge of legal principles and issues that arise in business. Businesses are subject to employment and contract disputes, negligence claims, regulatory compliance, and other legal issues, yet many business owners and managers are ill-equipped to identify legal risks before they arise. Without legal sophistication, business cannot identify and implement strategies to prevent problems from occurring or, at least, from spiraling out of control. While litigation is an inevitable cost of doing business, it is controllable. Students will develop the ability to spot potential legal problems and manage risks, enhancing their marketability to the businesses that employ them, and enhancing their effectiveness as entrepreneurs.
At the completion of this course, students will be able to:
· Describe the major components of the United States legal system;
· Write analyses of cases related to business organizations and their legal environments;
· Research and present oral and written analyses of how laws and regulations impact business organizations;