BUS 100 – Week 2 Discussion – Legal Claims

Part 1

Today, there are several options for people who want to pursue a legal claim. This includes filing a lawsuit in court, but it also includes alternative forms of dispute resolution (referred to as ADR), such as mediation and arbitration. In both mediation and arbitration, the dispute is resolved outside of court, with the main difference being that mediation requires the parties to voluntarily agree to a resolution, while arbitration requires the parties to abide by the decision of a private arbitrator.

For      this discussion, choose one of the disputes listed below      and explain whether you think the best way to resolve it is through a      lawsuit, mediation, or arbitration.

A       woman is passed over for promotion and instead the job is award to a man       with less experience. She believes that this is a case of sex       discrimination.

A       truck driver is hit by a motorist who ran a stop sign and will be in the       hospital for several months and does not have any savings or disability       benefits.

A       child is injured when a very popular folding highchair collapses, and it       appears that the highchair was improperly designed and unable to reliably       support the weight of the average infant.

Part 2

Remember to respond to other posts for full credit (Natalie Allen)

Hello all,

For the Week 2 discussion I have chosen to discuss the third scenario in which an infant is injured when the highchair collapses and is found to have been improperly designed to support the weight of an average infant.

For this situation, I would suggest a lawsuit against the manufacturer. If this were a one-off situation, it would be different, but as the high-chair was found to be improperly designed, this could be opened to a class-action lawsuit as it has the potential to injure many more infants. There would need to be a detailed investigation to confirm if the company were aware of the inaccurate weight limit, and if so, what was done? If someone knew that injury was possible and still signed off on it, that could be the case winning information.

Regardless of what is found during the investigation stages, this is not a situation that would be suited for arbitration or mediation given the seriousness of the allegations against the manufacturer.