Reference no: EM133314040

For Question 1:

You decide to join with one or more of your fellow classmates to open and operate a business distributing beer and other beverages to retail stores in Polk County.

1. (A). Indicate under what form of business you will operate this business and explain the advantages of this form of business.

(B). In addition, indicate a name for your business.

For Questions 2-4:

Your business enters into a contract with Bad Frog Brewery, Inc., to distribute their beer, "Bad Frog Beer." The label on their beer bottles is depicted above. You are successful in obtaining contracts with local grocery and convenience stores to carry Bad Frog beer distributed to them by your business. However, using a little known ordinance prohibiting "the display or furthering the display of products with obscene gestures in retail establishments in the county," and making violators subject to a fine of $100.00 per displayed item, Polk County issues citations to several of the grocery and convenience stores to whom you have sold Bad Frog Beer causing them to return the Bad Frog beer you sold them and rescind their contracts with you. You have also been issued citations for distributing the beer with the Bad Frog labels. You consult with a lawyer and he advises you to bring a lawsuit challenging the citations and fines issued by Polk County to the grocery and convenience stores and your company.

2. On what ground could your grocery and convenience store customers claim that the contract they entered into with you for the purchase of Bad Frog beer was not valid.

3. (A). What constitutional grounds does your lawyer inform you will he base the actions to challenge and rescind the citations and fines under the Polk County ordinance issued to your business and to your grocery and convenience store customers? (B). Cite a case that he may use to help win this challenge to the ordinance in court?

4. Assume Homer Simpson has heard about Bad Frog Beer and has developed a real thirst to purchase several cases. He hears that the Kwik-E-Mart, a convenience store in Springfield, Florida, has Bad Frog Beer available for sale. However, when he visits the store, he learns that the Kwik-E-Mart had the beer but returned it because of the Polk County ordinance referred to above. Homer is infuriated and decides to hire his lawyers, Lionel Hutz, Esq., to file a declaratory judgment action against Polk County in the 10th Judicial Circuit Court in Bartow to have the Polk County ordinance declared unconstitutional. Does Homer Simpson have standing to bring this declaratory judgement action? Explain why or why not. In your answer, you must explain what standing to sue means.

For Questions 5, 6, 7 and 8:

You have purchased a panel truck to distribute your beer and other beverage products and hired a driver, Barney Grumble, a white male, as your driver. During his job interview, Barney mentioned that he is a recovering alcoholic. However, he proves that he has a valid driver's license.

A month after hiring Barney, while transporting in your panel truck 100 cases of the very popular Duff's Beer from your distribution warehouse in Frostproof to the Kwik-E-Mart convenience store on US 27 near Posner Park in Davenport, he runs a red light at an intersection in Plant City and crashes into a Cadillac, seriously injuring your former business law professor pictured here:

The police officer who attended the scene of the crash wrote in his report that, in his opinion, based upon his observations of Barney at the scene of the accident, Barney was intoxicated. A blood test taken at the hospital indicates that Barney has a BAC of .21.

During his questioning by the police officer, Barney admits to having had a couple beers at Moe's Bar in Plant City. The bar is significantly off course from your Frostproof warehouse to the Kwik-E-Mart in Davenport. Based upon that BAC level and the officer's observations, Barney is arrested for DUI. The elderly occupants of the car, including your former professor, sues your company based upon their injuries in the 10th Circuit Court.

5. A. What monetary amount of the action must your former professor claim in his lawsuit to establish jurisdiction in the Florida 10th Circuit Court? [Remember: the amount was increased by statutory amendment in Florida on January 1, 2020].

B. Barney is charged with felony DUI because of a prior DUI conviction within 10 years. What Florida state court has jurisdiction?

6. A. What intentional or unintentional tort would serve as the basis for the lawsuit by your former professor?

B. What elements will your former professor have to prove in order to win the case based upon this tort?

C. In addition to suing Barney Grumble in the 10th Circuit Court, your law professor has sued your business as well. What legal doctrine does he argue provides a basis for filing a legal action in the Circuit Court against your business?

D. What defense could your business raise to being named a defendant in their case?

7. One of your fellow owners chastises you for hiring Barney as a driver after he mentioned during his interview for the job that he was a recovering alcoholic. A. What federal law do you cite as justifying the hiring that may have subjected you to a claim of employment discrimination had you not? B. In what year was this statute passed and by what legislative body? C. In what federal court could Barney bring an action if it was alleged that your company violated this federal law? D. Could Barney's lawyer also bring a legal action on his behalf based upon Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Explain why or why not.

8. In the accident, the 100 cases of Duff's beer meant for the Kwik-E-Mart were destroyed. The brewery making Duff's cannot ship any more of the product for at least two months. Kwik-E-Mart has brought a breach of contract action claim against your business for failing to deliver the 100 cases of beer. A. Does Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code apply to these facts? Why or why not? B. What is your company's possible defense to that claim?

For Question 9:

Polk County has sent you a letter indicating that it is taking the land where your distribution warehouse is for to construct a sports and recreation facility to be run by a private developer. They offer you $100,000 for the land's Polk County's current tax appraisal. However, a real estate agent tells you that the property is worth on the market at least $250,000.

9. What power is Polk County exercising and under what Amendment to the US Constitution is it granted?

10. Assume that you sell and deliver 100 cases of beer to Moe's Tavern in Springfield, Florida in northern Polk County for $15.00 per case. Payment of one-half the total was due upon delivery, a sum of $750 which Moe's owner paid, with the remaining amount due in 30 days. 60 days have elapsed, and despite sending Moe's 2 letters, no payment has been received by your business. What creditor remedies can you seek to recover the remaining $750 owed to you by Moe's? Moe's Tavern is a sole proprietorship.