Law & Ethics in the Business Environment

Prior to beginning work on this assignment,

• Review Chapter 7 and Chapter 36 of the course textbook.


• Review the cases Malorney v. B&L Motor Freight, Inc., 496 N.C.2d 1086 (Ill. Ct. App. 1986), and Raleigh v. Performance Plumbing and Heating, 130 P.3d 1011 (Colo. 2006).

Superior Electrical (Superior) was in the business of installing electrical wiring and related components at new construction sites. Because some employees were assigned company vehicles equipped with company tools and materials and were expected to drive those vehicles to the work sites, Superior required all employment applicants to hold a valid driver’s license. Employees who were assigned a company vehicle were expected to drive for the company during the workday in order to transport job materials and company tools that were kept on the vehicle to job sites. These employees were expected to take the company issued vehicle home at the end of the work day.

Superior hired Cory Jones as an apprentice electrician. Jones had completed an employment application in which he stated that he had a valid driver’s license and had not been cited for any traffic violations. These statements were untrue. His license had been suspended because of numerous traffic violations, including careless driving and driving without a license. Superior did not check on his driving record at the time he was hired because, as an apprentice electrician, he was not being assigned a company vehicle and was not expected to drive for the company during the work day.

About a year after hiring Jones, Superior promoted him to electrician and assigned Jones a company vehicle equipped with a rack for transporting wiring and other materials to and from the work sites. Superior intended that Jones drive during the day for the company and to take the vehicle home after the end of the work day. On a later date, when Jones’s work hours had ended and he was driving home in the company vehicle, he collided with two cars. The collision resulted solely from Jones’s negligence. Carolyn Carson and her son were severely injured in the collision and they sued Superior. The Carson’s alleged two theories of recovery against Superior: respondeat superior and negligent hiring.

Write a four- to five-page paper (not including title and references pages) that addresses the following:

• Identify and discuss the legal elements of negligent hiring.


• Apply those elements of negligent hiring to the facts given in the case.


• Analyze whether Superior would be liable for negligent hiring.


• Identify and discuss the legal elements of respondeat superior.


• Apply those elements of respond at superior to the facts given in the case.


• Analyze whether Superior would be liable on respondeat superior grounds.

The Negligent Tort Liability paper

• Must be four to five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.) resource.


• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  
  
  
  • Title of paper
  
  
  • Student’s name
  
  
  • Course name and number
  
  
  • Instructor’s name
  
  
  • Date submitted
  
  
  
  


• For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).


• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.


• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  
  
  
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
  
  
  
  


• Must use at least three credible sources in addition to the course text.
  
  
  
  • The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
  
  
  
  


• Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.


• Utilize correct APA formatting for legal sources include case law and legislation. See the Citing Legal Sources (Links to an external site.) resource from the Ashford University Library as well as the Citing Legal Materials in APA Style (Links to an external site.) from the University Library of California State University, Stanislaus for assistance.


• Avoid over-dependence on direct quotes. Direct quotes are a great way to strengthen our assertions and provide support. However, be sure to avoid using excessive direct quotes in lieu of original thought. Direct quotes will not meet the requirement for analysis, application, and critical thinking. Please ensure to not overuse direct quote so that you can avoid losing points for this.


• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.