The content was generally accurate with some nit-picking on my part. In this reviewer's opinion, there were not enough of those, especially not enough real-world cases used as tools to explain a concept.
Neither received the type of attention which they deserved. These are two areas of significant corporate liability exposure and lawsuit filings. The sections on both sexual harassment and negligence were far too superficial and short. The consequences of doing so are important and deserve some coverage. Many employers are now either requiring, or at least making it optional, for an employee to waive that right. The ADR section should have, in my opinion, considered the benefits of an employee agreeing to a pre-employment waiver of the right to trial. This is not a critical issue in business law, but if the author(s) were going to address assault, then battery should have also been addressed. The criminal law section did not address battery and how it was technically different from assault. That was a personal value/ethic that the owners of Hobby Lobby (it was privately owned) utilized instead of a “professional” value/ethic. Supreme Court had to ultimately decide the issue. For example, Hobby Lobby refused to comply with an Affordable Care Act requirement that medical insurance provided by employers include contraceptives. How those two interact on a daily basis, especially with regards to corporate decisions is an important topic to discuss.
BUSINESS LAW TEXTBOOK PDF PROFESSIONAL
The section on ethics was also failed to address professional ethics vs. Respondeat Superior, principal/agent and partnerships are three legal areas where an employer/third party who is not directly involved in a specific incident can/may be held responsible to an injured party due solely to the relationship between that employer/third party and the person causing the injury. Also, there was no mention of vicarious liability. Corporations, LLCs, Partnerships (general and limited) and sole proprietorships are significant topics which deserve discussion and explanation.
There were a few other subjects dealt with similarly, but those did not necessarily detract from the overall value of the text itself.Īs for the “lacking” comment, it is surprising that a text on Business Law (even if it is an introduction) does not include a chapter on business entities. So, in this case, it did not even need to be included, and if so, it merited further discussion. Despite putting it in the text, there was no discussion about the decision making process beyond just replicating the University of Michigan policy that was quoted. Another example was the Ethical Decision Making Policies. It is not a practical topic area and only lawyers would need to understand that concept. For example, I do not know how or why any student not in law school would need to know about “res ipsa loquitur” (note: it was spelled incorrectly in the text).
There were some legal subjects which were unnecessary and seemingly used to take up space. The text was comprehensive in general, to some extent too much so, and with regards to a few topics that I consider critical topics for a business course, completely lacking. Reviewed by Ben Carr, Associate Professor, James Madison University on 7/30/20