LEG 100 – WEEK 8 – PAULA PLAINTIFF’S REALLY BAD WEEK, PART 2
Assignment: What types of legal claims could Patty make
against Capstone Corporation and Freddy?
Notes:
Introduction
In this assignment, you’ll need to de
...
LEG 100 – WEEK 8 – PAULA PLAINTIFF’S REALLY BAD WEEK, PART 2
Assignment: What types of legal claims could Patty make
against Capstone Corporation and Freddy?
Notes:
Introduction
In this assignment, you’ll need to decide whether Paula Plaintiff has any legal claims
arising from another series of unfortunate events. After reading the scenario, answer
the questions that follow, making sure to fully explain the basis of your decision.
Paula’s bad luck continues. Five days after the events detailed in your last assignment,
Paula returns to work at Capstone Corporation. Unfortunately, she used her company email to send her mom a personal note about her injuries, despite being aware that
Capstone’s company policy prohibits use of company e-mail for personal
communication. Paula’s supervisor, Mikey Manager, discovers Paula’s violation and
Paula is reprimanded. When Paula goes home, she uses her personal computer to post
disparaging comments about her boss and Capstone Corporation on social media. The
next day, Paula is fired from her job.
After several days of bad luck, Paula believes her luck is about to change. She finds a
new job in a nearby town. Paula had been using the bus to go to work at Capstone
Corporation, but she will need to purchase a car to commute to her new job.
Fortunately, her neighbor Freddy Ford has just purchased a new vehicle and is selling his
old Mustang. Paula meets with Freddy and agrees to purchase the Mustang for $1000.
The parties also agree that Paula will bring Freddy the money the next day when she
picks up the car. The next day, Paula calls Freddy and says, “I have the money. I’d like to
come pick up my car.” Freddy replies that Paula is too late. He sold the car earlier in the
day.
Instructions
In a 6–10 paragraph paper, answer the following questions:
-Does Paula have any legal claims against Capstone Corporation? What about Paula’s
actions? Does Paula have a contract with Freddy to purchase the car? Consider the
following:
-Does Paula have a right to privacy when using Capstone Corporation’s e-mail system?
Discuss one’s right to privacy and relate it to the facts in the scenario.
-Can Paula be legally fired from her job for making negative comments about her boss
and her company on social media? What about free speech? Discuss these issues and
relate them to the facts of the scenario.
-Do Paula and Freddy have a contract for the sale of the Mustang? Discuss the elements
of a contract and relate those elements to the facts of the scenario.
Everyone has bad days and can even have a bad few days consecutively in a
row. There is an old saying that bad things come in threes. But, sometimes it may feel
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like the situations we are put in can go from bad to worse. Paula Plaintiff has had one of
these types of weeks. It all began when Paula began looking for a new laptop at Cash
Mart. She remembers she has an appointment and tried to quickly exit the store as a
security guard stops her and accuses her of shoplifting. He then detained her and after
some time the manager of the store came to apologize and release her. After being
released, she steps out of the store and is hit in the head by a golf ball which knocked
her unconscious. Paula’s bad luck seems to continue. Five days after this event she
returns to work at Capstone Corporation. Knowing that it is against company policy to
use the company email for personal communication Paula emails her mother a personal
note to detail her injuries anyways. Mikey Manager, Paula’s supervisor discovers this
violation and reprimands Paula. That same night she goes home to use her own
computer to then post disparaging comments about her supervisor and the Capstone
Corporation on her social media. And is subsequently fired from her job the next day.
Believing that her luck is changing she finds a new job and realizes that she will need a
car to commute. Her neighbor Freddy Ford is selling his Mustang. Paula meets with
Freddy and agrees to purchase his Mustang for $1000. They also agree that Paula will
bring Freddy the money the next day when she picks up the car. The next day, Paula
calls Freddy and says, “I have the money. I’d like to come pick up my car.” Freddy
replies that Paula is too late. He sold the car earlier in the day.
Paula does not have any legal claims against Capstone Corporation. In regards to
the Fourth Amendment in the Constitution, it prohibits unreasonable searches and
seizures by the government. To enforce this stipulation of the constitution, courts will
generally ask if a person had a reasonable expectation of privacy which is a test to
analyze if privacy should be protected in certain circumstances. There are 2 things
needed to determine this reasonable expectation of privacy. One would be that the
person had an actual, personal expectation of privacy. For example, nearly all people
anticipate having privacy in the bathroom. The second one would be that society
recognizes that person’s expectation of privacy as reasonable. However, “courts have
generally held that employees do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the
workplace, especially if using hardware provided by the employer, or if the employee
handbook says they may be monitored” (Beatty 1). The fact that the company’s policy
prohibits use of company email for personal communication and in order to work there
she had to have signed a contract and agreed to the company policies. Therefore, if she
was using the company computer and company email to send personal messages with
her mother, whether or not they were about her personal injuries, the corporation is
within their rights to reprimand her for the violation. She does not have any legal claims
against Capstone Corporation in that portion of the situation because she agreed to the
company policies that prohibit the use of company email for personal communication
upon starting her job there.
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) is a federal statute
prohibiting unauthorized interception of access to, or disclosure of wire an electronic
communication. This ECPA applies to employers too. According to the book called
Introduction to Business Law “An Employer has the right to monitor workers’ electronic
communications if (1) the employee consents; (2) the monitoring occurs in the ordinary
course of business; or (3) in the case of email, if the employer provides the computer
system” (Beatty 1). This means that the employer does have the right to monitor the
electronic communication even if it has literally nothing to do with work activities which
can include the employee’s actions or activities on any social media platform. However,
employers cannot coerce or use any tricks to gain access to the employee’s accounts on
social media. Even if Paula had expectations on keeping her pages private by limiting
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