Identify legal issues in a given fact pattern
Learn how to think critically about business legal situations
Draft a well-reasoned analysis of the given situations making arguments in support of both parties to the dispute
Develop key business skills in:
Analyzing
Presentation
Written communication
Persuasion
A fact analysis features a fact pattern, which contains numerous legal issues that need to be identified, analyzed and discuss.
1. Read the two fact patterns below. You must respond to all parts of both questions!
2. Prepare an analysis of the legal issues presented in each one.
Your analysis should:
Identify the legal issues;
State the facts which created the issues;
Analyze and discuss the issue using the law and the facts;
Determine who has the strongest argument and will be most likely succeed in court.
3. Your analysis of the two questions can be any of the following:
A paper using APA format.
Question 1
Scenario A: Rihanna and Chris Brown entered into a written contract in which Chris Brown agreed to sell his collection of knives to Rhianna for $5,000, payable in 2 installments ($2500 when she picked up the knives and $2500 payable one month later). Rihanna picked up the knives and paid Brown the first $2500.
A couple nights later, Rihanna and Beyonce were out partying together at a club. Rihanna, recognizing that Beyonce had polished off 6 vodka tonics, told Beyonce that she wanted to assign her duties under her contract with Brown to her. Beyonce yelled, "absolutely!", and promptly fell off her chair.
Despite numerous attempts, Brown is unable to get Beyoncé to pay the second payment. Brown sues Rihanna who claims that she is not liable, because she had transferred her duty t Beyoncé.
Scenario B: Same initial facts as above but instead.. A couple of nights after Rihanna and Brown enter into the contract, they wind up at the same bar with Beyoncé. Brown, in an attempt to make peace with Rihanna, buys both ladies their first round and they all sit around chatting. The knife contract comes up and Beyoncé mentions she's interested in some, if not all, of the knives. On a cocktail napkin, Beyoncé writes the following: I, Beyoncé, agree to pay the remaining $2500 owed by Rihanna to Chris for the knives by next Friday. Brown and Beyoncé sign it. Next Friday comes and goes and Brown does not get paid. He sues Beyoncé.
For both of the above-referenced scenarios, identify the various contract issues and the arguments that would be asserted by each side in court. Remember, there is always an argument to be made even if you feel it isn't that strong.
After discussing both sides' arguments, determine who you think would win and explain why.
Question 2
JayZ and TI decide to start a record label together. In anticipation of the label, they decide they need a recording studio in Atlanta. They hire Billy Bob Carter Contracting Services to build it. After much negotiation, the parties agree in writing that the studio will be built in 2 phases. First, the building will be constructed. Second, all the required interior work needed for the sound equipment will be done. JayZ and TI insist that all the interior work be done using teak wood.
Billy Bob completes construction of the building. Before beginning construction of the interior, a beetle epidemic plagues teak trees and 95% of the trees in the US die. As a result, the only way to get teak is to import it from Australia at a price five times the amount it could have been bought here prior to the epidemic.
Billy Bob calls up JayZ and advises him that he will not do the interior because of the teak situation and demands payment for the work done. JayZ refuses. Instead, he hires Billy Bobs rival, Dougie Fresh, to finish the job. Dougie agrees to complete the work for ten times the amount that JayZ and TI had initially agreed to with Billy Bob.
Billy Bob sues JayZ and TI for payment for the work completed. They countersue him for the full amount they paid Dougie.
Identify the various contract issues and the arguments that would be asserted by each side in court. Remember, there is always an argument to be made even if you feel it isn't that strong.
After discussing both sides' arguments, determine who you think would win and explain why. You may submit the assignment as a paper.