Week 8

1. (TCOs G and I) In the 1930s, after immigrating to the U.S. from a region in central Europe threatened by the onset of World War II, Luigi and Maria Spongee opened a bakery in Chicago. They specialized in snack cakes. Spongee Cup Cakes became so popular in the area that the family stopped being actual bakers and became manufacturers/ food processors of the snack cakes on a regional basis. After returning from the war, their son Steve completed college and began working in television advertising in the early 1950s. Steve approached his parents and his older brother Tom, who was now running the business, about the possibilities of advertising and “going national.” The family liked the idea and began advertising and expanding. In addition, to fuel the expansion, they offered retailers price discounts and other incentives if they prominently positioned the displays set-up by Spongee rack jobbers. By the 1960s, they were a national brand, controlling over 80 percent of the snack food industry………….

…………A child in Idaho, with food allergy problems, even died. Her parents served her the snack, relying on the advertising, not knowing that some of the natural ingredients used in the Canadian-made product were dangerous to her.

The Spongee family seeks your advice and opinion regarding:
(1) Herbal Snacks’s advertising campaign.
(2) The marketing and distribution campaigns both companies have engaged in.
(3) The liability issues Herbal Snacks faces regarding their use of food manufactured outside of the United States

2. (TCOs A, E, F)John and Janet Fonda, siblings and actors, decide to retire after years on the road. They remember a town in New Jersey they were familiar with from their travels. From the internet, they learn of a farm a few miles outside of town that seems ideal. There is a great house and lots of land. ………….As the area near the farm was once occupied by a large chemical plant, when the realtor represents local purchasers, as a precaution, she advises the buyers to get the maximum possible title search and title insurance, and to get all possible inspections done. It is her regular practice to caution local purchasers who she represents about the former chemical plant.
After closing on the property, the Fondas learn of the old chemical plant. They seek your advice as to their liability and the liability of any other parties.

3. (TCOs A, E, F)John, Lionel, and Evelyn Harrymore, siblings and actors, decide to retire after years on the road. They remember a town in Illinois they were familiar with from their travels. From the internet, they learn of a farm a few miles outside of town that seems ideal. There is a great house and lots of land. The Harrymores wish to convert the farm to a restaurant-hotel with a dinner theater. They contact the realtor by phone, and make arrangements to buy the parcel. ………….It is her regular practice to caution local purchasers who she represents about the former chemical plant. After closing on the property, the Harrymores learn of the old chemical plant. They seek your advice as to their liability and the liability of any other parties.

1. (TCO C) Three professors from Keller’s New Jersey campus, Robinson, Romney, and Obama, decide to visit ABC Go-kart facility together in Pennsylvania. This decision is made after a lengthy faculty brunch, at which unlimited alcoholic mimosas were served. ABC Go-kart advertises at the college’s various campuses and, in fact, the professors use their faculty discount at the facility……………..At autopsy, it was later learned that Professor Robinson had been rendered brain dead by accident at the ABC Go-kart facility.

(a) What claims may Professor Robinson’s widow bring against the various parties?

(b) What defenses might each party bring against the possible claims asserted by Professor Robinson’s widow?

(c) In what state should the case be brought? (Points: 30)

(TCOs A, B, F, H

PART A

Paul and Thomas Hamilton, brothers, are college students and web designers. While at the University of Megalopolis, a private, for-profit college in the “Quad State” area, they started an online chat service called LinkTime. Paul attended and resided at the college’s campus in the State of Quadrahenria. Thomas, who was on probation during college for a low level felony drug conviction, could not be a resident student and took classes at the campus in the Commonwealth of New Guernsey campus. ………..The brothers would like to maintain a majority interest in the business, give about 20 percent to the six friends from their undergraduate days who helped them run the service, and use the remaining interest in the business to attract other investors and use employee incentives. They seek your advice on (a) the form of business they should use, (b) who might have a claim on the business, and (c) how they might protect themselves from claims regarding a computerized internet platform?

PART B