QUESTION A .THE HYPOTHETICAL-Please use your knowledge of Business Law concepts and case law to respond to this hypothetical. Note the prompt below .
A 19 year old college student in New Jersey named Jeff Jones was excited to receive a copy of the new video game “ Unending Aggression” in the mail . He read about it in a magazine called VIDEO TODAY which described it as , “…violence like you have never seen before”. The game was rated MM for extremely mature over 21. Jeff paid 32.00 and sent for it from China. It was delivered on March 31, 2020. Jeff spent an average of 18 hours per day playing the game. Jeff could not get enough of this game. He was home due to the Covid- 19 outbreak.
Jeff ate at his video screen and slept at his video screen. His professors were concerned because Jeff was not submitting online work. However they did not require him as to see a mental health counselor or an academic advisor as was usual during the semester because , as an internal school memorandum regarding Jeff’s conduct said, “Everyone is sad in the spring of 2020 and not at their best .Jeff’s mom was a nurse and Jeff’s dad was a pharmacist at a local hospital. Jeff lived with his parents. Jeff’s best friend , 18 year old Sadie Warner repeatedly tried to text him but her Snap chats and texts went unnoticed by Jeff until April 5 when he began sending violent emails to Sadie threatening her that if “she did not stop bugging him he would do to her some of the stuff in the game and hurt her”. Terrified , Sadie told her college volleyball Coach Lisa Level who told her, “lighten up Sadie, everyone is just stressed by this pandemic”. Sadie had a terrible headache. To feel better Sadie decided to take a pain reliever. Sadie saw Aggrieve, a pain reliever from China, in the family medicine cabinet .She wasn’t sure how much to take. She was scared. Her brother Mike said, “Do Not BE a big baby Sadie. Just take a bunch. Mike was 21 and also home from college with Sadie during the pandemic. Sadie swallowed three Aggrieve tablets even though the label said the average consumer could take two safely. Aggrieve looked just like the popular US brand Aleve which required three tablets to be effective.
Sadie became ill and was vomiting repeatedly. She was driven to the hospital by her mom and dad, Luther and Lois, where she subsequently died two days later .Results showed she had a rare allergy to Dye-18 , a green dye used in the making of Aggrieve.
Jeff felt terrible that he had scared Sadie when he was just kidding around. He made a tape of himself playing the song, “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban featuring images of Groban singing co mingled with Jeff holding a sign saying, “Sadie, Baby, I’ll Love you forever. ”He charged $5.00 a view.
The video became an instant sensation and Jeff went on to make millions in TV appearances and views.
PRETEND YOU ARE A JUDGE. Discuss what claims could exist here
using negligence, strict liability, product liability, affirmative defenses and copyright law to demonstrate who could be sued here, why and with what result.
Question B. Why is contract law such an essential part of the United States Legal system? What are the goals of contract law? What are Court’s perspectivestypically on enforcement? What are the essential elements of contract formation? After analyzing contract formation please provide some examples of how a contract could fail to be formed? What are the typical damages for an unenforceable contract? Are there any duties on the parties to offset their damages?
Question C. What is the Statute of Frauds? Provide four examples of contracts which must fall within the Statute of Frauds. What would be a theory for why the law would require the application of the Statute of Frauds from a Business Perspective? Discuss how the application of the statue of Frauds might hurt a business. How does the parole evidence rule apply?
Question D. If an individual were to find a piece of a finger in a plastic soda bottle purchased at an AMC movie theatre please discuss what theories of law might be relevant including any case law.
