LONG ESSAY SECTION
ESSAY 1
Contract issues, Negligence
100 points

Father, Mother, and Son, age 15, are at Golf Resort for a junior golf tournament. Golf carts are allowed for parents to drive their children around the course. Father signs a Tournament Participation and Golf Cart Rental Agreement which includes a waiver and release which Father signs on behalf of Son that expressly releases Golf Resort from any and all liability for anything arising out of Son’s participation in the tournament. The Agreement also has a place for Father to identify additional authorized drivers of the cart, which Father leaves blank.

On the first day of the tournament, Mother is driving the golf cart with Son as a passenger and misses a turn on the cart path because she is sending a text message. She collides with a very large, clearly visible flag pole located ten feet from the cart path. The applicable building code requires a 30 foot setback from all paths of vehicular travel. As a result of the collision, Son is thrown from the cart and suffers a severe head injury.

You have been hired as a business analyst at the Golf Resort. Your first task is to write a memo to the corporate management discussing the possible legal exposure and liability risks this accident has caused Golf Resort. Specifically:
1. (a) Evaluate Son’s possible legal claim against the Golf Resort. Specifically mention the type of claim he should file, define the elements of that claim, and analyze the facts that support the claim.
1. (b) Discuss any potential mitigating defenses the Golf Resort might have against Son. Explain.
1. (c) Discuss the applicability of the exculpatory clause in the contract and its possible implications for the lawsuit. Can Golf Resort utilize the protection of the clause to prevent liability against Mother/Son? Why or why not? Explain.

QUESTION 2
Employment Law, Tort Law
75 points

Blake Shelton is the manager at The Voice Karaoke Club. He hired Taylor Swift three months ago as an entertainer and bartender with an at-will employment agreement subject to a 30 day probationary employment period. Taylor didn’t have any experience, but she is young and very attractive and figured the male-customer base would appreciate the eye candy. Blake calls all of the women employees at the Karaoke Club “honey.” He calls Taylor “honey bunny.” Taylor is very shy and gets extremely embarrassed when he calls her that. Taylor has told him to stop calling her that two times during the course of her employment.

For passing her thirty-day probationary employment period, Blake gave Taylor a necklace charm with the Playboy bunny logo explaining: “for my honey bunny waitress.” Taylor wears the necklace frequently both at work and outside of work.

Last week, an important record label guru rented out the Karaoke Club for a business party and had the Club create a show as part of the party. Taylor butchered an important opening karaoke number for the premiere show. The audience was booing and shouting and most of the guests left after her song. The record label customer was furious and left without paying. Blake reprimanded Taylor afterwards by telling her what she did wrong and trying to tell her how to fix it next time. Blake wrote up the incident and put it in her employment file.

This week, Taylor has left work early three times to meet her new boyfriend, Rob Zombie, for drinks. Blake has verbally reprimanded her about leaving early and documented it in her file.

Tonight, Rob Zombie came into the The Voice Karaoke Club. Instead of working her tables and participating in the group singing numbers, Taylor sat down with Rob and canoodled for over 30 minutes.

Blake went to the table and told Taylor: “I can find a thousand honeys to serve drinks and sing poorly. I don?t need one that isn?t reliable and has a chump for a boyfriend. You’re fired.”

Taylor files claims of sexual harassment and wrongful termination against The Voice Karaoke Club.
2. (A.) Evaluate her sexual harassment claim.
2. (B.) Evaluate her wrongful termination claim.
SHORT ANSWER ESSAYS
Each worth 25 points

QUESTION 3
In an attempt to win a heated game of hide-and-seek with her 8 children, Kate Gosselin locked herself in the trunk of her 1980 Chevy Impala, where she remained for nine days before being freed. During the nine days, Kate sought to escape, but she was unable to do so. She suffered exhaustion and dehydration, cut fingernails, and emotional distress. She wants to sue Chevrolet for the injuries she sustained from her entrapment.
3. (A.) List one products liability claim she may attempt to argue against
Chevrolet?
3. (B.) Decide/Evaluate the claim analyzing the elements of the type of claim and facts that would support the claim.

QUESTION 4
Bob and Ziggy Marley own a catering business, Legend, Inc. They each own 50% of the shares. Bob dies in a freak accident when one of the corporation’s employees, Damien, drops a haunch of venison on him.
4. (a) Since Bob was a 50% owner of the corporation, does Legend, Inc. terminate along with him? Explain.
4. (b) Would it make a difference if it was a general partnership? Why or why not?

QUESTION 5
Jack Cousteau is President of a marine research company, Waves, Inc. On April 1, the research director of Waves tells Jack they’ve come up with “Oxygum,” a means of breathing underwater by chewing a special kind of gum. Jack knows a great product when he hears it. He delays announcing the invention to the public, so he can buy up all the Waves stock he can get his hands on. Sure enough, when Jack make the announcement, the price of Waves stock immediately rises from $1 to $50 a share.
5. (a) What SEC rule, if any, is Jack likely to have violated?
5. (b) Has Jack in fact violated that rule?

QUESTION 6
Jetways, Inc. has a mandatory retirement age policy of 60 years old for pilots, for safety reasons. Billy Joel, 60, has fulfilled all the requirements to become a certified pilot and completed, with flying colors, the prerequisites to pilot a commercial airliner. Billy, tired of the rocker life, applies for an open pilot’s position at Jetways, Inc. Billy is the only applicant. He is denied the position. The position remains open for another 6 months and then is filled by Christie Brinkley, age 55. Billy sues Jetways, Inc.
6. What claims might Billy raise against Jetways, Inc? Evaluate the validity of the claims. Explain.

QUESTION 7
The Big Bad Wolf lives in the Ocala National Forest. He decides he wants to start a clothing company that creates Halloween costumes, theater costumes, and other performance apparel specializing in women’s clothes styles that fit the male body type. He currently is the only employee. He plans on hiring a few other people to work customer service and production. His goal, whether valid or not, is to take his company public in five years and get bought out by a large clothing company or store. Currently he is working out of the barn in his backyard.
7. (a) Advise the Big Bad Wolf of what type of corporate form he should use for his business and why?