case study examples business law

Business Law: Case Studies Examples

Case study no. 1 – coca-cola co. v. babyback’s int’l, inc., 806 n.e.2d 37 (ind.ct.app. 2004), description of facts.

The facts relate to a conflict of assertion and denial of the formation of contractual obligations between CCE (Coca-Cola Enterprises) and Babyback’s International Inc. In addition, whether the enforcement of a memo between the parties was a valid and enforceable document, despite the fact that it was preliminary in nature and did not incriminate CCE in the terms and conditions mentioned in it. Babyback Int. Inc. had entered into agreement with Hondo Incorp. , Bottling and handling agents, which gave rights to Babyback to have their products displayed alongside Coca-Cola in Indanapolis. Encouraged by the responses it generated, it was decided to cover other regions of Atlanta under CCE jurisdiction, although no written agreement was signed.

After round of talks between CCE and Babyback, during November 97, Babyback sent a fax message to CCE enlisting general terms and conditions governing a co-marketing strategy in Atlanta and other country.

It was held by Babyback that CCE had breached the agreement when it did not honour the terms and conditions contained in fax message sent for release of up-front charges and denied having ever had a valid contractual relationship with Babyback. The fact remained whether Babyback would be able to enforce the agreement based on oral discussions, of no mutually contracted significance. CCE had stressed all along that they need to be granted a partial summary judgment since, under the Statute of Frauds, the contract needs to be performed within a year and written contracts need to be signed by parties. CCE argues that the faxed memo following the November 1997 meeting is insufficient to satisfy the statute because it fails to contain the essential terms of a contract, and further, because it shows that no consensual agreement had been reached between the parties

After invaliditing the CCE motion for partial summary judgment, the Trial Court held this appeal made after mutual discussion identified three major areas for appellate review

• Whether this memo would constitute valid evidence under the Statute of Frauds.
• Implication of the Past performance doctrine.
• The availability of the doctrine of promissory estoppels.

It is seen that CCE has not be able to enforce the partial summary judgment in order to avoid the Statute of Frauds. The conditions specified in the Statute of Fraud, inter alia include, “the promise, contract, or agreement on which the action is based,” or “a memorandum or note describing the promise, contract, or agreement,” must be “in writing and signed by the party against whom the action is brought or by the party’s authorized agent.” Ind. Code § 32-21-1-1(b). (In the Indiana Supreme Court: Statute of frauds writing).

Moreover, it i s seen that the faxed memo is not an ultimate contractual document, but only a preliminary instrument for negotiations. Since the matters are still under discussion stages, the matter is still wide open and anything could transpire. Therefore, it would be premature for CCE to make estimated guesses upon the ultimate outcome of the appellate hearings and its outcomes.

Yocca v.Pittsburg Steelage Sports Inc. 806 A.2d 936 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2002)

The facts relate to the purchase of stadium builder licenses from Pittsburgh Steelers, the purpose of the SBL being to finance the construction of a bigger football stadium. As per the terms of the SBL Brochure, during November 1998, the applicants signed the application and sent the requisite deposit money for reserving seats for the football matches to be played in the stadium. In the applications, the applicants had to indicate their choice of section of the stadium in which they wanted their seats to be located. However, in the Brochures, the seat and blocks were not clearly demarcated. However the appellees gave their preferences and also their first , second and third preferences. They had indicated their seats to be located in the 20-yard line.

However, they received allotment letter and SBL Agreement letter in August 1999, showing their allotted seats different from what was promised to them through the Brochure.

The issue that arouse were that the allotted seats were not in conformity with the seats shown in the SBL Brochures and were between the 18 Yard line instead of 20 yards line. Moreover, it was also felt that they were awarded Grade II seats when they had paid for Grade I seats. (Houghton Miffin: Online Study Center. Incensed, the appellates filed a suit in the trial court.

The trial Court dismissed the appelates contention stating that the SBL agreement assumed supreme importance, was an integrated document, and superceded all other previous documents. The SBL Brochure was just an invitation for the public to make offers and did not constitute a valid commitment or promise. Their contention that Unfair Trade Practices & Consumer Protection Law ( UTPCL) was violated did not hold good since the Court felt that SBL were neither goods nor services. (In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Western District : Ronald A. Yolla et al v. The Pittsburgh Steeler Sports Inc.

The appellees were not also given the benefit of declaratory relief since it was felt that this contract cannot be nullified since the SBL Agreement has been accepted and authenticated by the appellants.

The appelles next went to the Common wealth Courts, who, while validating the trial court’s dismissal of Appellees’ fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims and injunctive relief

Claim, “reversed “the trial court’s dismissal of Appellees’ claims for breach of contract. (In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Western District : Ronald A. Yolla et al v. The Pittsburgh Steeler Sports Inc.

However, Justice Cohn took a different stance and enforced the concept of parol evidence in the form of the SBL Agreement superceded all other documents and evidences. Again, the matter of declaratory relief stating that the terms of the SBL Brochure must be merged into the SBL agreement is not tenable in law.since the SBL Agreement is complete in itself and the Courts felt that further explanations were not needed.

Accordingly, we reverse the Commonwealth Court’s order reversing the trial court’s order dismissing Appellees’ claims for breach of contract, violation of the UTPCPL, and Held, the Commonwealth Court’s directives hereby reverse the reversing trial court’s verdict rejecting the Appellees claims for breach of contract etc, (In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Western District: Ronald A. Yolla et al v. The Pittsburgh Steeler Sports Inc.

It is felt that justice has not been fully carried out in this case. This is because the appelles had place their trust and confidence on the SBL brochure, and had booked their seats meticulously and without the chances of errors. However, it is seen that the Sports Corp. had not lived up to its promises as evidenced in the SBL Brochure. It also needs to be said that the contractual agreement between the Appellees and the Company began upon sending of the completed Application forms along with the stipulated payments, well within stipulated date. It would have been in the fitness of things if the aggrieved appellees are duly compensated for the losses suffered by them in terms of lowered seating positions which was not in consonance with the diagrams shown in the initial Brochures and which later on turned to be of Class II instead of Class II, thereby incurring losses.

Cited Works

In the Indiana Supreme Court: Statute of frauds writing requests. Web.

Houghton Miffin: Online Study Center. Web.

In the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Western District: Ronald A. Yolla et al v. The Pittsburgh Steeler Sports Inc. Web.

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Oxford University Press's Academic Insights for the Thinking World

Top 10 commercial law cases of 2014

Oxford Legal Research Library

Oxford Legal Research Library (OLRL) is a new family of products from Oxford University Press, providing integrated access across collections of key law titles in a variety of subject areas.

• By Miranda Dobson
• January 20 th 2015

Commercial law experienced an eventful year in 2014, but what were the most significant cases? Read our run-down of some of the biggest cases from the past 12 months to see if you agree with us:

1. Apple Inc. wins decade-long anti-trust class action

In December 2014, Apple won a long-running class action that was brought against them in 2005. The company was accused of monopolizing the digital music market and violating U.S. anti-trust statutes by reconfiguring its DRM system, which prevented mp3 compatibility with competitors. After 10 years of no judgement, and a recorded video statement from the late Steve Jobs, a jury ruled in Apple’s favour.

2. Russian oligarchs in mining row

A dispute between Russian aluminium businessman, Vasily Anisimov and the late Badri Patarkatsishvili’s family was settled in March 2014. The family alleged that they were entitled to 20% of Mr Anisimov’s mining company, claiming that the two businessmen agreed Mr Anisimov would invest in mining company Metalloinvest’s forerunner, Mikhailovsky. A deal was reached over the $1.8bn case just days before it was to go to trial.

3. Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby

A landmark decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed for-profit corporations to be exempt from certain laws on the grounds of religious beliefs held by company owners. The lawsuit was filed by Hobby Lobby owners, David and Barbara Green, who objected to having to provide contraceptives to employees through a health insurance plan, which they felt contravened their religious beliefs. The court ruled in their favour in June. This is the first time a court has recognised a for-profit corporation’s claim of religious beliefs.

4. Accolade Wines in construction strife

In what was a huge £170m case in the Technology and Construction Court, Accolade Wines claimed against the company that built its bottling plant in 2010 for property damage and business interruption. Accolade Wines sued contractor VolkerFitzpatrick after finding problems with the floor slabs in their Bristol warehouse, which is the biggest wine warehouse in Europe. VolkerFitzpatrick denied the defects were due to their work.

5. Oracle Corp vs. Google

In May 2014 the Federal Circuit revised a decision made in 2012 that said Application Programming Interfaces (APIs or “Android operating systems”) are not copyrightable. Despite ruling in 2012 that if APIs were subject to copyright, this could allow a particular company to have control over “a utilitarian and functional set of symbols”, which could in turn prevent innovation within the technology industry. The Federal Circuit, however, decided in May that Java’s APIs are copyrightable, and Google’s case has gone back to trial.

6. America Broadcasting Companies vs. Aereo

Industrious start-up Aereo came up with a unique business opportunity by streaming broadcast network television programming online for a fee. The business was sued by a group of broadcasters and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that their service violated copyright laws. The decision ultimately, of course, put Aereo out of business.

7. Tyre-d of price-fixing

A group of tyre manufacturers claimed against the Dow Chemical Company for damages over £170m, for price-fixing on polyurethane chemical products. Dow appealed the decision in October 2014, but this was denied by the 10 th Circuit in the U.S in one of the most significant verdicts last year. The European Commission fined 10 companies more than £396m in this price-fixing case, including Shell and Bayer, as well as Dow.

8. Bancroft vs. Weil Gotshal & Manges

In what will be the first time a U.S. company defends itself in a London court, private equity group Bancroft is suing American law firm, Weil Gotshal & Manges, for negligence in a claim worth an estimated £10m. The case is based on a claim that it was not explained during Weil Gotsham & Manges’ advise on Bancroft’s purchase of a 94% stake in ice cream company, Frost, that the group would not have voting control in the new company. The case was settled at £3m.

9. The National Grid take on a cartel

In June 2014 a group of companies were taken to trial in London after the European Commission identified a cartel relating to Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS). Companies involved were fined €750m by the Commission while National Grid sought £360m in damages.

10. Mineworker pensioners take on RBS

RBS is currently in the firing line in one of the most significant post-recession pieces of litigation, as 77 claimants take the bank to task. The bank is accused of issuing “mis-statements and omissions” in its prospectus for the RBS April 2008 rights issue, as well as portraying themselves as being in a good financial position despite this not being the case.  The claimants include pension scheme trustees, local authorities and investment funds.  The total amount the bank is being sued for is estimated at over £3bn.

Featured image credit: UK Festival of Fireworks , by David Carter. CC-BY-2.0 via Flickr 

Miranda Dobson is a Marketing Assistant in the Commercial Law department at Oxford University Press.

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• Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Supreme Court Business Review: Significant Business Cases & Trends, 2019–2020 Terms

The Supreme Court decided a number of significant business cases in the 2019 and 2020 terms. To outside observers, the decisions are characterized largely by continuity and incrementalism—we did not see a swinging pendulum of opinions in these terms—though some may find some of the outcomes surprising. This term saw Justice Amy Coney Barrett join the Court, replacing the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and it also saw continuing use of the shadow docket to shape the law.

At least three overall themes emerge. First: textualism. Justice Elena Kagan, eulogizing her friend Justice Antonin Scalia, remarked “[w]e are all textualists now.” Reading the Court’s majority and dissenting opinions in Bostock v. Clayton County , [1] this seems to be true. Although the Court’s 6-3 decision prompted vigorous dissents, all 9 justices adopted a purely textualist approach. Their disagreements turned instead on the type of textualism the Supreme Court should employ and how to apply it.

Regardless of the type of textualism, however, the high court’s trend seems to suggest much of our statutory interpretation courses of yore are obsolete. Bostock appears to focus narrowly on the bare language of a statute, almost without regard to historical context and common usage at the time of enactment. It is clear that accepting textualism does not eliminate disagreement.

This term also saw Judge Barrett’s textualism debut with her majority opinion in Van Buren v. United States . [2] The case, like Bostock , is a good example of how the justices may disagree even within the textualism world. The majority adopted a narrow reading of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, stating that the Act “covers those who obtain information from particular areas in the computer—such as files, folders, or databases—to which their computer access does not extend,” not those who have “improper motives for obtaining information that is otherwise available to them.” Justice Thomas dissented, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, in a very literal sense over the implications of the word “so.” Justice Thomas, looking to text and history, wrote that the law prohibits a person from exceeding his or her scope of authority when using a computer that belongs to someone else.

In Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe I , [3] Justice Thomas did not hesitate to apply textualism when writing for the majority in this case involving the Alien Tort Act of 1789 (“ATS”). The ATS gives federal district courts jurisdiction over “any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” In Part III of his opinion, Justice Thomas (joined by Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh) proposed “that federal courts should not recognize private rights of action for violations of international law beyond the three historical torts [previously] identified,” because “creating a cause of action to enforce international law beyond [the] three historical torts invariably gives rise to foreign-policy concerns,” warranting deference to Congress. Note that this textualist analysis did look to history, context and usage.

Bostock , Van Buren , and Nestlé suggest that the Court’s focus on textualism is here to stay. What the implications are remains to be seen. Is it possible that the Court’s insistence on following the precise words of a statute will stimulate Congress to draft more carefully?

Second , separation and limitation of powers under the Constitution. This continues to be a paramount concern of the Court. Three business-related cases illustrate the Court’s ongoing focus on the importance of separation of powers and of constitutional limits on government.

In TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez , [4] Justice Kavanaugh’s majority opinion provided a detailed historical analysis of Article III standing requirements, and critically emphasized that while Congress can create causes of action for what it identifies as injuries, it is for the courts to decide whether an alleged injury satisfies Article III’s injury-in-fact requirement.

In United States v. Arthrex , [5] the Court grappled with the Appointments Clause in the context of administrative patent judges (“APJs”) of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. It ultimately held that the unreviewable authority of the APJs takes them out of any executive review and, therefore, conflicts with the Appointments Clause’s purpose of preserving political accountability.

Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid [6] upheld property rights as a limit on government action. The Court held that under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause, California’s regulation that required property owners to allow labor organizations to access their property amounted to an appropriation of private property and, thus, a per se physical taking.

Third: procedure. Finally—like any other Court—the Supreme Court cares about procedure. As always, arbitration continues to be a hot topic for this Court. In GE Power v. Outokumpu , [7] the high court unanimously held the New York Convention does not preclude a nonsignatory’s enforcement of arbitration agreements under the doctrine of equitable estoppel.

In the 2020 return trip of Henry Schein v. Archer & White [8] to the Court, the case was argued only to have certiorari dismissed as improvidently granted, and sent back down to the Fifth Circuit. In the context of class actions, Goldman Sachs v. Arkansas Teacher Retirement System [9] clarified the standards for class certification under Rule 23 in the context of 10(b) securities fraud. The Court focused on the need for truly common questions of law and fact.

In addition to the cases under the headers of the three main themes, the Court also decided two significant intellectual property cases. Google v. Oracle [10] clarified how “fair use” concepts apply to application programming interfaces under copyright law. PTO v. Booking.com [11] held that the combination of a generic term (“booking”) with a top-level domain name (“.com”) can be protected as a trademark even if neither alone could be protected.

[1] 590 U.S. ___ (2020).

[2] 593 U.S. ___ (2021).

[3] 593 U.S. ___ (2021).

[4] 594 U.S. ___ (2021).

[5] 594 U.S. ___ (2021).

[6] 594 U.S. ___ (2021).

[7] 590 U.S. ___ (2020).

[8] 592 U.S. ___ (2021). See also 586 U.S. ___ (2019).

[9] 594 U.S. ___ (2021).

[10] 593 U.S. ___ (2021).

[11] 591 U.S. ___ (2020).

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

These three sets of case studies showcase how law firms in North America are innovating as businesses. They feature leading examples of law firms changing how they manage their own people, and how they are reinventing services and delivery models.

All the case studies were researched, compiled and ranked by RSGI. “Winner” indicates that the organisation won an FT Innovative Lawyers Europe award for 2023. The full list of award winners is available here.

More on FT.com: Best practice case studies

Read the other FT Innovative Lawyers North America ‘Best practice case studies’, which showcase the standout innovations made for and by people working in the legal sector:

Practice of law In-house

Knowledge and data

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe: WINNER Originality: 8; Leadership: 9; Impact: 8; Total: 25 Orrick partnered with Italian venture capital group Pi Campus’s Pi School programme, which provides software engineers with real-world industry experience, to develop a machine-learning tool for use by the firm. It uses natural language processing to analyse client data and tag it with descriptions, such as a client’s sector. The tool’s accuracy on client tagging is 90 per cent, compared with 50 per cent when done by people.

BakerHostetler

O: 9; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 24

The information services department at BakerHostetler improved a litigation analytics tool by adding a generative AI element that can extract data from PDFs and Microsoft Word documents to identify patterns that had previously been missed. Clients can see the data visualised for a clearer picture of trends across litigation, transactions and legal spend.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius

O: 8; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 24

The firm launched a tool to give its lawyers easy access to important information about clients — for example, what they need to know when working with a new client for the first time. It combines the firm’s existing data on clients and active legal matters with third-party information — such as daily stock prices, news stories, and Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Highly commended

White & Case O: 7; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 22 The client experience team at White & Case developed a platform on which “client experience blueprints” record specific preferences, sticking points and other information. The aim is to create a more consistent experience for clients globally, and to help lawyers anticipate their needs. The “blueprints” are in use across the firm, including in project development and finance, M&A, and commercial litigation practices.

Reed Smith O: 6; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 21 A new platform at Reed Smith automates the allocation of work to organise resources efficiently, optimise pricing, and involve associates in bids for work in a more consistent way. AI helps to match lawyers’ particular skills with available work. More than 95 per cent of associates at the firm use the platform.

McDermott Will & Emery O: 6; L: 8; I: 6; Total: 20 The knowledge management team at the firm created a searchable hub, for M&A and private equity work, which organises key data and provides insights on clients, deal dates, and values and agreement types. The team can collate relevant information for new matters based on lawyers’ past searches and proactively send it to them.

Ballard Spahr O: 7; L: 5; I: 7; Total: 19 The client value and innovation team developed a tool, Cognitive Services, that uses generative AI and a Microsoft suite of off-the-shelf AI tools to spot patterns in profitable and unprofitable legal work. It then applies the lessons learned to future client work and business development.

Digital solutions

Kirkland & Ellis: WINNER Originality: 7; Leadership: 9; Impact: 9; Total: 25 The investment funds team built a platform, SideTrack, that automates the creation and tracking of side letters. These contain additional terms agreed in contracts that vary between many separate investors. The side letters are included in information, dubbed “most favoured nation” documents, where they can be viewed and commented on by investors. SideTrack allows efficient processing of such documents, often hundreds of pages, and tracks side letters globally to avoid duplication of terms. It stores 100,000 side-letter provisions and has been used in more than 300 matters since its launch in 2023. Commended individual: James Desjardins

Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders O: 8; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 24 The firm has released its own generative AI application, Athena, which uses OpenAI’s chatbot system but ensures client data is not shared externally — to avoid privacy and data security concerns. Athena has been released across the firm, after being trialled in the marketing department. Of the 500 users a day, 150 are lawyers.

Ballard Spahr O: 7; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 23 The fintech team created an application that handles business licences and government obligations for consumer financial services clients, with dashboards and checklists to help clients navigate licensing requirements and filing deadlines for each US state. The application, which is free, is run by a team of lawyers who respond to any legal queries that arise. Commended individual: Lisa Lanham

Cooley O: 8; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 23 Last year, the firm launched an improved version of its Vanilla platform, which is focused on venture capital and other asset managers. It helps to set up, administer, and close private investment funds. Added services include compliance with sanction requirements.

King & Spalding O: 7; L: 7; I: 8; Total: 22 The ediscovery practice has made a number of updates to its technology, including a document review system for data contained in communication apps such as Slack, Teams and WhatsApp. One new tool helps to identify and log privileged information in large data sets, while another automatically removes irrelevant documents from searches.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21 The asset management department worked with the IT team to create a platform that helps clients manage fund administration while ensuring regulatory compliance. The service was developed for private equity group Glendower Capital, but is now available to other clients.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius O: 7; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 20 The knowledge management and practice services team worked with the intellectual property practice to create VizBridge. This presents clients’ trademark portfolios and their product development plans as an interactive world map, to aid strategic decision making. Commended individual: Rachelle Dubow

Reed Smith O: 7; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 20 The financial services litigation team created an app that helps paralegals and lawyers draft litigation briefs faster and more cheaply. Although the app’s first drafts must be checked and amended by lawyers, the firm estimates the overall time to produce a high-quality brief is cut by 50 per cent or more. Commended individual: Diane Bettino

Eversheds Sutherland O: 6; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 19 The firm developed a searchable database of legal requirements for Meta — owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — covering data security requirements in jurisdictions across the globe.

Ropes & Gray O: 7; L: 6; I: 6; Total: 19 In partnership with civil rights lawyer Andrew Stroth and campaign group Truth, Hope and Justice, the firm led a project involving more than 30 law firms to establish a database of police misconduct cases in Chicago and Philadelphia. They analysed data surrounding settlements and verdicts to guide state and city authorities on how to improve practices and enact reform.

People and skills

Mayer Brown: WINNER Originality: 8; Leadership: 8; Impact: 8; Total: 24 The firm launched a “technology general counsel in residence” programme in early 2023, in which an experienced, senior in-house lawyer from a tech company takes up an adviser role on a short-term secondment to Mayer Brown. The scheme, which is modelled on similar initiatives in the venture capital industry, helps the firm’s lawyers to learn about the legal needs of tech start-ups. So far, two general counsels have participated.

Goodwin O: 8; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 23 The firm is exploring “use cases” for generative artificial intelligence and training lawyers and other staff in the technology. Exercises include a “test kitchen” programme, where lawyers and business professionals at all levels are developing and trialling the way that generative AI could work in practice. Collaboration and sharing knowledge across disciplines are emphasised. Nearly 160 such use cases have been identified so far, with the firm planning to develop and implement a number of them in the coming months.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe O: 8; L: 9; I: 6; Total: 23 The firm introduced a policy in 2022 whereby new associates avoid any billable-hours targets for the first six months and are allotted time to work on pro bono projects, as well as research, and non-billable work with clients. Training, shadowing opportunities and mentorship have also been added. Orrick reports that this approach has improved lawyer performance and benefited clients, as they are billed less often for work by very junior lawyers.

Davis Wright Tremaine O: 8; L: 8; I: 6; Total: 22 In 2023, the firm launched a programme to reduce unconscious bias in partner evaluation, admission and pay meetings. Participants receive training on unconscious bias, and one is nominated as a “bias interrupter” to call out any examples they see during a meeting. They dub it “throwing a bias flag” — a reference to American football refereeing — to call for a pause, in order to review and assess a statement for unconscious bias.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges O: 7; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 22 The WeilPride programme highlights LGBTQ+ issues and provides pro bono support to several non-profit groups supporting the queer community. Within the firm, it has supported the rollout of a family benefits scheme, including financial contributions for fertility treatment, adoption and surrogacy, as well as providing advice and support through the network. The proportion of LGBTQ+ law students in “stepping stone” summer associate roles at the firm in 2023 was up 10 percentage points, to 18.2 per cent, on 2020, when the family benefits initiative began. Commended individual: Justin Lee

White & Case O: 6; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 21 The firm has created a programme to help new partners acquire additional “soft skills”, to help with business development, by assigning a more senior partner as a sponsor who can help with networking, meeting clients, and generally gaining expertise. The new partner’s progress is taken into account in calculating the sponsor’s pay. More than 150 new partners have taken part this year.

BakerHostetler O: 7; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 20 IncuBaker, the firm’s alternative legal services unit, worked with Georgia State University College of Law to create a course in legal technology for law students. The first ran in early 2023 and guided students on how to advance legal innovation projects. The curriculum will expand in 2024 to include new tech such as generative AI.

DLA Piper O: 6; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 19 The firm created a corporate data analytics internship programme that trains participants using DLA Piper’s data, both internally and for client work. It demonstrates to them what law firms require. The results have included using data analytics and visualisation on environment, social and governance (ESG) questions, and a contribution to a summary of the risks of artificial intelligence. The internship, which started in 2019, now has seven data analytics interns a year.

Eversheds Sutherland O: 6; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 19 Expanding out of its energy and employment practices, the firm’s global ESG group launched a training scheme for lawyers in other practice areas on some of the challenges facing their clients — such as energy transition, social responsibility, sustainable finance and climate litigation. Sessions are tailored to showing how different areas of the law are affected.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher O: 6; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 19 Last year, the firm hired two former participants in its environmental analyst internship programme. The initiative — launched in 2021 and targeted at students who are not in law school — aims to broaden the range of skills in environmental analysis that the firm makes available to clients.

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Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

Two cases about Hertz claimed top spots in 2021's Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies

Two cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz claimed top spots in the CRDT’s (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases.

Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through the end of 2019. Hertz (B), which ranked third in CRDT’s list, describes the company’s struggles during the early part of the COVID pandemic and its eventual need to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

The success of the Hertz cases was unprecedented for the top 40 list. Usually, cases take a number of years to gain popularity, but the Hertz cases claimed top spots in their first year of release. Hertz (A) also became the first ‘cooked’ case to top the annual review, as all of the other winners had been web-based ‘raw’ cases.

Besides introducing students to the complicated financing required to maintain an enormous fleet of cars, the Hertz cases also expanded the diversity of case protagonists. Kathyrn Marinello was the CEO of Hertz during this period and the CFO, Jamere Jackson is black.

Sandwiched between the two Hertz cases, Coffee 2016, a perennial best seller, finished second. “Glory, Glory, Man United!” a case about an English football team’s IPO made a surprise move to number four.  Cases on search fund boards, the future of malls,  Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund, Prodigy Finance, the Mayo Clinic, and Cadbury rounded out the top ten.

Other year-end data for 2021 showed:

• Online “raw” case usage remained steady as compared to 2020 with over 35K users from 170 countries and all 50 U.S. states interacting with 196 cases.
• Fifty four percent of raw case users came from outside the U.S..
• The Yale School of Management (SOM) case study directory pages received over 160K page views from 177 countries with approximately a third originating in India followed by the U.S. and the Philippines.
• Twenty-six of the cases in the list are raw cases.
• A third of the cases feature a woman protagonist.
• Orders for Yale SOM case studies increased by almost 50% compared to 2020.
• The top 40 cases were supervised by 19 different Yale SOM faculty members, several supervising multiple cases.

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

All of this year’s Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases studies of 2021 are:

1.   Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

2.   Coffee 2016

3.   Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4.   Glory, Glory Man United!

5.   Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

6.   The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

7.   Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

8.   Prodigy Finance

9.   Design at Mayo

10. Cadbury

11. City Hospital Emergency Room

13. Volkswagen

14. Marina Bay Sands

15. Shake Shack IPO

16. Mastercard

17. Netflix

18. Ant Financial

19. AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

20. IBM Corporate Service Corps

21. Business Leadership in South Africa's 1994 Reforms

22. Alternative Meat Industry

23. Children's Premier

24. Khalil Tawil and Umi (A)

25. Palm Oil 2016

26. Teach For All: Designing a Global Network

27. What's Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

28. Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

30. Project Sammaan

31. Commonfund ESG

32. Polaroid

33. Connecticut Green Bank 2018: After the Raid

34. FieldFresh Foods

35. The Alibaba Group

36. 360 State Street: Real Options

37. Herman Miller

38. AgBiome

39. Nathan Cummings Foundation

40. Toyota 2010

7 Favorite Business Case Studies to Teach—and Why

Explore more.

• Case Teaching
• Course Materials

FEATURED CASE STUDIES

The Army Crew Team . Emily Michelle David of CEIBS

ATH Technologies . Devin Shanthikumar of Paul Merage School of Business

Fabritek 1992 . Rob Austin of Ivey Business School

Lincoln Electric Co . Karin Schnarr of Wilfrid Laurier University

Pal’s Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth . Gary Pisano of Harvard Business School

The United States Air Force: ‘Chaos’ in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron . Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School

Warren E. Buffett, 2015 . Robert F. Bruner of Darden School of Business

To dig into what makes a compelling case study, we asked seven experienced educators who teach with—and many who write—business case studies: “What is your favorite case to teach and why?”

The resulting list of case study favorites ranges in topics from operations management and organizational structure to rebel leaders and whodunnit dramas.

1. The Army Crew Team

Emily Michelle David, Assistant Professor of Management, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS)

“I love teaching  The Army Crew Team  case because it beautifully demonstrates how a team can be so much less than the sum of its parts.

I deliver the case to executives in a nearby state-of-the-art rowing facility that features rowing machines, professional coaches, and shiny red eight-person shells.

After going through the case, they hear testimonies from former members of Chinese national crew teams before carrying their own boat to the river for a test race.

The rich learning environment helps to vividly underscore one of the case’s core messages: competition can be a double-edged sword if not properly managed.

Executives in Emily Michelle David’s organizational behavior class participate in rowing activities at a nearby facility as part of her case delivery.

Despite working for an elite headhunting firm, the executives in my most recent class were surprised to realize how much they’ve allowed their own team-building responsibilities to lapse. In the MBA pre-course, this case often leads to a rich discussion about common traps that newcomers fall into (for example, trying to do too much, too soon), which helps to poise them to both stand out in the MBA as well as prepare them for the lateral team building they will soon engage in.

Finally, I love that the post-script always gets a good laugh and serves as an early lesson that organizational behavior courses will seldom give you foolproof solutions for specific problems but will, instead, arm you with the ability to think through issues more critically.”

2. ATH Technologies

Devin Shanthikumar, Associate Professor of Accounting, Paul Merage School of Business

“As a professor at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business, and before that at Harvard Business School, I have probably taught over 100 cases. I would like to say that my favorite case is my own,   Compass Box Whisky Company . But as fun as that case is, one case beats it:  ATH Technologies  by Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard.

ATH presents a young entrepreneurial company that is bought by a much larger company. As part of the merger, ATH gets an ‘earn-out’ deal—common among high-tech industries. The company, and the class, must decide what to do to achieve the stretch earn-out goals.

ATH captures a scenario we all want to be in at some point in our careers—being part of a young, exciting, growing organization. And a scenario we all will likely face—having stretch goals that seem almost unreachable.

It forces us, as a class, to really struggle with what to do at each stage.

After we read and discuss the A case, we find out what happens next, and discuss the B case, then the C, then D, and even E. At every stage, we can:

see how our decisions play out,

figure out how to build on our successes, and

address our failures.

The case is exciting, the class discussion is dynamic and energetic, and in the end, we all go home with a memorable ‘ah-ha!’ moment.

I have taught many great cases over my career, but none are quite as fun, memorable, and effective as ATH .”

3. Fabritek 1992

Rob Austin, Professor of Information Systems, Ivey Business School

“This might seem like an odd choice, but my favorite case to teach is an old operations case called  Fabritek 1992 .

The latest version of Fabritek 1992 is dated 2009, but it is my understanding that this is a rewrite of a case that is older (probably much older). There is a Fabritek 1969 in the HBP catalog—same basic case, older dates, and numbers. That 1969 version lists no authors, so I suspect the case goes even further back; the 1969 version is, I’m guessing, a rewrite of an even older version.

There are many things I appreciate about the case. Here are a few:

It operates as a learning opportunity at many levels. At first it looks like a not-very-glamorous production job scheduling case. By the end of the case discussion, though, we’re into (operations) strategy and more. It starts out technical, then explodes into much broader relevance. As I tell participants when I’m teaching HBP's Teaching with Cases seminars —where I often use Fabritek as an example—when people first encounter this case, they almost always underestimate it.

It has great characters—especially Arthur Moreno, who looks like a troublemaker, but who, discussion reveals, might just be the smartest guy in the factory. Alums of the Harvard MBA program have told me that they remember Arthur Moreno many years later.

Almost every word in the case is important. It’s only four and a half pages of text and three pages of exhibits. This economy of words and sparsity of style have always seemed like poetry to me. I should note that this super concise, every-word-matters approach is not the ideal we usually aspire to when we write cases. Often, we include extra or superfluous information because part of our teaching objective is to provide practice in separating what matters from what doesn’t in a case. Fabritek takes a different approach, though, which fits it well.

It has a dramatic structure. It unfolds like a detective story, a sort of whodunnit. Something is wrong. There is a quality problem, and we’re not sure who or what is responsible. One person, Arthur Moreno, looks very guilty (probably too obviously guilty), but as we dig into the situation, there are many more possibilities. We spend in-class time analyzing the data (there’s a bit of math, so it covers that base, too) to determine which hypotheses are best supported by the data. And, realistically, the data doesn’t support any of the hypotheses perfectly, just some of them more than others. Also, there’s a plot twist at the end (I won’t reveal it, but here’s a hint: Arthur Moreno isn’t nearly the biggest problem in the final analysis). I have had students tell me the surprising realization at the end of the discussion gives them ‘goosebumps.’

Finally, through the unexpected plot twist, it imparts what I call a ‘wisdom lesson’ to young managers: not to be too sure of themselves and to regard the experiences of others, especially experts out on the factory floor, with great seriousness.”

4. Lincoln Electric Co.

Karin Schnarr, Assistant Professor of Policy, Wilfrid Laurier University

“As a strategy professor, my favorite case to teach is the classic 1975 Harvard case  Lincoln Electric Co.  by Norman Berg.

I use it to demonstrate to students the theory linkage between strategy and organizational structure, management processes, and leadership behavior.

This case may be an odd choice for a favorite. It occurs decades before my students were born. It is pages longer than we are told students are now willing to read. It is about manufacturing arc welding equipment in Cleveland, Ohio—a hard sell for a Canadian business classroom.

Yet, I have never come across a case that so perfectly illustrates what I want students to learn about how a company can be designed from an organizational perspective to successfully implement its strategy.

And in a time where so much focus continues to be on how to maximize shareholder value, it is refreshing to be able to discuss a publicly-traded company that is successfully pursuing a strategy that provides a fair value to shareholders while distributing value to employees through a large bonus pool, as well as value to customers by continually lowering prices.

However, to make the case resonate with today’s students, I work to make it relevant to the contemporary business environment. I link the case to multimedia clips about Lincoln Electric’s current manufacturing practices, processes, and leadership practices. My students can then see that a model that has been in place for generations is still viable and highly successful, even in our very different competitive situation.”

5. Pal’s Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth

Gary Pisano, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

“My favorite case to teach these days is  Pal’s Sudden Service—Scaling an Organizational Model to Drive Growth .

I love teaching this case for three reasons:

1. It demonstrates how a company in a super-tough, highly competitive business can do very well by focusing on creating unique operating capabilities. In theory, Pal’s should have no chance against behemoths like McDonalds or Wendy’s—but it thrives because it has built a unique operating system. It’s a great example of a strategic approach to operations in action.

2. The case shows how a strategic approach to human resource and talent development at all levels really matters. This company competes in an industry not known for engaging its front-line workers. The case shows how engaging these workers can really pay off.

3. Finally, Pal’s is really unusual in its approach to growth. Most companies set growth goals (usually arbitrary ones) and then try to figure out how to ‘backfill’ the human resource and talent management gaps. They trust you can always find someone to do the job. Pal’s tackles the growth problem completely the other way around. They rigorously select and train their future managers. Only when they have a manager ready to take on their own store do they open a new one. They pace their growth off their capacity to develop talent. I find this really fascinating and so do the students I teach this case to.”

6. The United States Air Force: ‘Chaos’ in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron

Francesca Gino, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School

“My favorite case to teach is  The United States Air Force: ‘Chaos’ in the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron .

The case surprises students because it is about a leader, known in the unit by the nickname Chaos , who inspired his squadron to be innovative and to change in a culture that is all about not rocking the boat, and where there is a deep sense that rules should simply be followed.

For years, I studied ‘rebels,’ people who do not accept the status quo; rather, they approach work with curiosity and produce positive change in their organizations. Chaos is a rebel leader who got the level of cultural change right. Many of the leaders I’ve met over the years complain about the ‘corporate culture,’ or at least point to clear weaknesses of it; but then they throw their hands up in the air and forget about changing what they can.

Chaos is different—he didn’t go after the ‘Air Force’ culture. That would be like boiling the ocean.

Instead, he focused on his unit of control and command: The 99th squadron. He focused on enabling that group to do what it needed to do within the confines of the bigger Air Force culture. In the process, he inspired everyone on his team to be the best they can be at work.

The case leaves the classroom buzzing and inspired to take action.”

7. Warren E. Buffett, 2015

Robert F. Bruner, Professor of Business Administration, Darden School of Business

“I love teaching   Warren E. Buffett, 2015  because it energizes, exercises, and surprises students.

Buffett looms large in the business firmament and therefore attracts anyone who is eager to learn his secrets for successful investing. This generates the kind of energy that helps to break the ice among students and instructors early in a course and to lay the groundwork for good case discussion practices.

Studying Buffett’s approach to investing helps to introduce and exercise important themes that will resonate throughout a course. The case challenges students to define for themselves what it means to create value. The case discussion can easily be tailored for novices or for more advanced students.

Either way, this is not hero worship: The case affords a critical examination of the financial performance of Buffett’s firm, Berkshire Hathaway, and reveals both triumphs and stumbles. Most importantly, students can critique the purported benefits of Buffett’s conglomeration strategy and the sustainability of his investment record as the size of the firm grows very large.

By the end of the class session, students seem surprised with what they have discovered. They buzz over the paradoxes in Buffett’s philosophy and performance record. And they come away with sober respect for Buffett’s acumen and for the challenges of creating value for investors.

Surely, such sobriety is a meta-message for any mastery of finance.”

More Educator Favorites

Emily Michelle David is an assistant professor of management at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Her current research focuses on discovering how to make workplaces more welcoming for people of all backgrounds and personality profiles to maximize performance and avoid employee burnout. David’s work has been published in a number of scholarly journals, and she has worked as an in-house researcher at both NASA and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Devin Shanthikumar  is an associate professor and the accounting area coordinator at UCI Paul Merage School of Business. She teaches undergraduate, MBA, and executive-level courses in managerial accounting. Shanthikumar previously served on the faculty at Harvard Business School, where she taught both financial accounting and managerial accounting for MBAs, and wrote cases that are used in accounting courses across the country.

Robert D. Austin is a professor of information systems at Ivey Business School and an affiliated faculty member at Harvard Medical School. He has published widely, authoring nine books, more than 50 cases and notes, three Harvard online products, and two popular massive open online courses (MOOCs) running on the Coursera platform.

Karin Schnarr is an assistant professor of policy and the director of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program at the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada where she teaches strategic management at the undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. Schnarr has published several award-winning and best-selling cases and regularly presents at international conferences on case writing and scholarship.

Gary P. Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration and senior associate dean of faculty development at Harvard Business School, where he has been on the faculty since 1988. Pisano is an expert in the fields of technology and operations strategy, the management of innovation, and competitive strategy. His research and consulting experience span a range of industries including aerospace, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, health care, nutrition, computers, software, telecommunications, and semiconductors.

Francesca Gino studies how people can have more productive, creative, and fulfilling lives. She is a professor at Harvard Business School and the author, most recently, of  Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life . Gino regularly gives keynote speeches, delivers corporate training programs, and serves in advisory roles for firms and not-for-profit organizations across the globe.

Robert F. Bruner is a university professor at the University of Virginia, distinguished professor of business administration, and dean emeritus of the Darden School of Business. He has also held visiting appointments at Harvard and Columbia universities in the United States, at INSEAD in France, and at IESE in Spain. He is the author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books on finance, management, and teaching. Currently, he teaches and writes in finance and management.

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Business Law I Essentials

(5 reviews)

Mirande Valbrune

Renee De Assis, Texas Woman's University

Suzanne Cardell, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Copyright Year: 2019

Publisher: OpenStax

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Velda Arnaud, Department Chair, Instructor, and Advisor, Blue Mountain Community College on 4/5/24

All of the topics we need for our business law course are covered in this OER. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

All of the topics we need for our business law course are covered in this OER.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Some topics need to be updated because this information is 5 years old.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

As previously stated, laws change, and this book is 5 years old.

Clarity rating: 4

The reading level may be difficult for non-native English language students.

Consistency rating: 5

Each chapter is nicely organized.

Modularity rating: 5

This is one of the best features.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The content flows very well and ends with international law and securities.

Interface rating: 3

All of the information is on the website, and I would prefer to keep students in the learning management system.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

So far, I have not found grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This is a business course, and they use many different examples. It seems quite representative of the population.

There is a low-cost printed book available for students.

Reviewed by Ben Carr, Associate Professor, James Madison University on 7/30/20

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. First, as to the “too much”. There were some legal subjects which were... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

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. First, as to the “too much”. There were some legal subjects which were unnecessary and seemingly used to take up space. 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). It is not a practical topic area and only lawyers would need to understand that concept. Another example was the Ethical Decision Making Policies. 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. So, in this case, it did not even need to be included, and if so, it merited further discussion. There were a few other subjects dealt with similarly, but those did not necessarily detract from the overall value of the text itself. As 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. Corporations, LLCs, Partnerships (general and limited) and sole proprietorships are significant topics which deserve discussion and explanation. Also, there was no mention of vicarious liability. 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. The section on ethics was also failed to address professional ethics vs. personal ethics. How those two interact on a daily basis, especially with regards to corporate decisions is an important topic to discuss. For example, Hobby Lobby refused to comply with an Affordable Care Act requirement that medical insurance provided by employers include contraceptives. An employee filed suit, and the U.S. Supreme Court had to ultimately decide the issue. That was a personal value/ethic that the owners of Hobby Lobby (it was privately owned) utilized instead of a “professional” value/ethic. The criminal law section did not address battery and how it was technically different from assault. 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 ADR section should have, in my opinion, considered the benefits of an employee agreeing to a pre-employment waiver of the right to trial. Many employers are now either requiring, or at least making it optional, for an employee to waive that right. The consequences of doing so are important and deserve some coverage. The sections on both sexual harassment and negligence were far too superficial and short. These are two areas of significant corporate liability exposure and lawsuit filings. Neither received the type of attention which they deserved. Lastly, I am a big fan of hypotheticals. In this reviewer's opinion, there were not enough of those, especially not enough real-world cases used as tools to explain a concept.

The content was generally accurate with some nit-picking on my part. For example, the author(s) stated that most states do not allow minors to void a contract after turning 18 years of age. It is my understanding that most states actually allow for a “reasonable” time after turning 18 for a minor to void a contract unless that minor has somehow ratified or affirmed the contract after turning 18. Also, comparative vs. contributory negligence was not handled as deftly as it could have been. First, there are two types of comparative negligence, which was not discussed, and second, it is solely dependent upon which state in which the incident occurs as to whether comparative negligence (either type) or contributory negligence will be utilized in a legal analysis. Another nit-picking on my part deals with a few minor mischaracterizations and/or inadequate information. An example of that is when the author(s) discuss the McDonald’s case involving the hot coffee. A significant issue in the case was punitive damages, because McDonald’s knew that their coffee was too hot and had made the “business” decision to not change the temperature. To simply use the case as a “negligence” example misses the primary point of that case. Yet another nit-picking was that when the author(s) discussed Title VII, they did not point out that there are employee limits to the application of that Title. For example, Title VII’s prohibition against discriminating against a person with a disability does not apply to an entity with fewer than 15 employees, while the prohibition against discriminating against age does not apply to an entity with fewer than 20 employees. This is important, because state laws can lower those thresholds and readers need to be ultra aware of checking both the federal and state law protections. There were other nuances that the author(s) did not mention which would be valuable as instruction, such as with sexual harassment. In sum, the text was relatively comprehensive, and would be most useful to an instructor with legal experience who could utilize it in a very, very basic, almost vocabulary level, manner. It says that it is “Essentials”, but there are some essentials, which I have addressed, that I feel should have been included. Assuming that it is intended solely as a very basic introduction, that is where its value can be found. Otherwise, an instructor trying to utilize the text without a sound legal understanding to begin with will find that it will raise many questions that students may ask which he/she will not be prepared to answer or explain and/or even convey information which may be incorrectly applied.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Due to its very basic manner of addressing virtually all the topics, the content is up-to-date in its content. Without further exploration of the topics in the text, i.e. Essentials II, the text is only marginally useful as a text for practical legal considerations on its own. The text is written and/or arranged in such a way that necessary updates will be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.

Clarity rating: 5

The text was written in a way that most would understand. There were a few times when I had to re-read a sentence or paragraph and use my own understanding to have the passage make sense. Again, it is important that whoever uses the text already have a legal background.

The text was consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

Modularity rating: 4

Due to the nature of law itself, the text is marginally susceptible to being divided up into different sections at different points. To stress, that is not the author(s) issue, that is the nature of the beast. There has to be some scaffolding in law with certain concepts being taught/learned in order. In terms of its comparison to other legal texts in this topical area, I would strongly guess that it is pretty consistent and does as well as it can except for one suggestion that I will give in the following review area.

Section 5.2 seemed to me to be out of place. It would be far better suited if placed either in chapter 1 or as its own chapter between chapters 1 and 2. Otherwise, the topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion.

Interface rating: 5

I had no problems with the interface or with navigating through the text. Everything was clear and I did not discern any distractions or confusions to the reader.

I am not an English major, but I did not notice any grammatical errors.

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. I would, however, suggest that the cultural events since the text was published would justify a supplement. More discussion of Title VII and the sex, race and color classes would be appropriate.

I think the goals of this text were laudable, but fell just a little short of my expectations. At times, it seemed as though someone other than an attorney or someone familiar with law was writing it, and was just cutting and pasting without a practical understanding of what was being written. That may be due more to a goal to just give some "essentials" to supplement the in classroom teaching of an instructor with some legal knowledge or experience.

Reviewed by Paolo Davide Farah, Assistant Professor, West Virginia University on 5/1/20

The reviewer believes that text covers all areas and ideas of the subject appropriately. The title of the book is Business Law I Essentials, so the expectation is that there might be the need to prepare a Business Law II Essential for the areas,... read more

The reviewer believes that text covers all areas and ideas of the subject appropriately. The title of the book is Business Law I Essentials, so the expectation is that there might be the need to prepare a Business Law II Essential for the areas, which are missing from the analysis. In fact, my interpretation and understanding is that this book selects some of the most important issues in the areas, but it is also focusing on what it can be virtually possible to cover in a single class module. In fact, 14 sections/chapters are equivalent to a 14-week class. I believe that this textbook is useful for a first clear introduction to beginners and then students can complement with the constitution, the case law, case studies, simulations and other relevant real life examples and experiences.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The reviewer considers that the content of the book is accurate. The selection of topics is also relevant. Particularly, the corporate social responsibility is an area not covered by all business law textbooks. Generally, other business law textbooks cover predominantly the market oriented analysis and not sufficiently the limits to globalization and the business sector represented by the necessary balance between business and human rights, business and sustainable development, business and other non-commercial values. I would probably extend some parts to also cover corporate governance

The reviewer considers that the book covers relevant contemporary issues without risks for the longevity of the book. The case studies are useful to students to learn from practice.

As previously mentioned, the text is clear and organized in such a way that is easy to access for students that will approach these topics for the first time. The instructor can use the single chapters as the main topic for each of the classes complementing this book with cases and other additional readings. The terminology and the language is accessible to students and non-experts.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is internally consistent, but I believe the pictures are not a relevant addition to the textbook. It would be advisable that the author revises the textbook to use pictures that are actually relevant for the analysis of each of the sections.

Each chapter can be used as an individual section for class modules and lectures complemented with additional materials.

The topics in the text were presented clearly.

The text does not present any interface, but it necessitates some external materials to cover some aspects. In addition, the pictures are not representative of the contents of the textbook.

The reviewer did not detect grammatical errors.

During the review, no culturally insensitive remarks or offensive statements have been detected in any way.

I will use this book for one of my classes.

Reviewed by Steve Custer, Associate Professor, Oakland City University on 12/19/19

This book covered the major aspects inherent to the legal landscape of business. Its subject matter is well referenced and provided a solid vocabulary of terms. Particularly, the content offered an informative section on negotiation skills and... read more

This book covered the major aspects inherent to the legal landscape of business. Its subject matter is well referenced and provided a solid vocabulary of terms. Particularly, the content offered an informative section on negotiation skills and tactics that I would recommend.

Upon inspection, this reviewer found the book to be accurate, without errors, and neutral in its presentation.

This reviewer found the text to be timely and informative. Specifically, chapter 7 (contract law) provided some excellent real-world examples that should be incorporated into classroom discussions.

The book is well formatted which should enable the entry level business law student to excel in their learning and comprehension of broad based legal definitions.

The text is largely consistent, although the authors elected to provide more examples and tables to illustrate concepts in the latter chapters of the text than in the former chapters.

The chapters of this text were well assembled and concise. I would not hesitate to adopt portions alongside other material in the classroom.

The topics were presented in a clear fashion and were easy to understand.

Interface rating: 4

No interface issues were noted, but when compared with other resources, additional content seemed lacking at times.

No grammatical errors were found during this review.

Upon inspection, this reviewer did not notice any insensitive or offensive material in this text.

There are a plethora of business law texts available in the marketplace. Whatever resources one chooses to adopt, the Business Law Essentials text could certainly be utilized as an effective supplement in the classroom.

Reviewed by Chelsea Green, Assistant Clinical Professor, Miami University on 12/6/19

Even though this text is an "essentials" text, there are certain topics that are missing from the text that I would expect to find in a basic legal environments textbook. These include topics such as 1) Real, Personal, and Intellectual Property;... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

Even though this text is an "essentials" text, there are certain topics that are missing from the text that I would expect to find in a basic legal environments textbook. These include topics such as 1) Real, Personal, and Intellectual Property; 2) Negotiable Instruments and Banking; 3) Secured Transactions and Bankruptcy; 4) Agency and Liabilities to Third Parties; and 5) Business Organizations. The text includes both a table of contents and an index. It would be nice to see a glossary and the US Constitution in the back. The material included is fairly basic and doesn't explore the topics with adequate depth.

I am not finding inaccurate information, however, both sides of various topics are not included such as the free market argument that those arguing for corporate social responsibility would normally face.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Most of the book covers foundation material that will timeless. However, there are a number of links to supporting information located on the web that could become obsolete. This text also lacks examples of the law from trial cases, which may increase the longevity of the text, however, this trait also leads to the shallower coverage of the topics.

The book is easy to read and provides user-friendly vocabulary for a non-lawyer.

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework. Again, if provides basic information regarding the legal topics covered.

This text is easily read and could be divided up cleanly.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The organization of the material is logical and clear. There is good use of headings and visual breaks for the reader. The end of the chapters provide simple multiple choice questions for a learner to test themselves. There is not a summary provided at the end of the chapter which is common with standard texts.

I did not find any interface issues related to this text.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I did not find any grammatical errors that would stand out to a learner and distract from the content.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

There are few examples in this text on which to judge its culturally insensitivity. The images included in the text illustrate a diverse group of participants in the law.

The images included in this book seem to be inserted only to take up space. Images in a law text can be very helpful for the non-learner by providing comparisons and flowcharts to simplify concepts. Consider using more meaningful images to support the text and provide the textual information in a different way.

Table of Contents

• 1 American Law, Legal Reasoning, and the Legal System
• 2 Disputes and Dispute Settlement
• 3 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
• 4 Business and the United States Constitution
• 5 Criminal Liability
• 6 The Tort System
• 7 Contract Law
• 8 Sales Contracts
• 9 Employment and Labor Law
• 10 Government Regulation
• 11 Antitrust Law
• 12 Unfair Trade Practices and the Federal Trade Commission
• 13 International Law
• 14 Securities Regulation

Ancillary Material

About the book.

Business Law I Essentials is a brief introductory textbook designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of courses on Business Law or the Legal Environment of Business. The concepts are presented in a streamlined manner, and cover the key concepts necessary to establish a strong foundation in the subject. The textbook follows a traditional approach to the study of business law. Each chapter contains learning objectives, explanatory narrative and concepts, references for further reading, and end-of-chapter questions.

Business Law I Essentials may need to be supplemented with additional content, cases, or related materials, and is offered as a foundational resource that focuses on the baseline concepts, issues, and approaches.

About the Contributors

Renee De Assis

Suzanne Cardell , University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

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Business Law Case Studies with Solutions

• Post author: myspeakhr
• Post category: Case Study
• Reading time: 5 mins read

Discussed here is the Business Law Case Studies with Solutions. Business Law is also known as Legal Aspects of Business, Commercial Law etc. Here we have given short case studies along with solutions in business law. These simple case law in commercial law contains cases related to Contract Act 1872, Sale of goods Act and Consumer protection Act with solutions. All the 3 Acts discussed here is majorly used in business transactions. These short case studies on commercial law with answers will be helpful for students of MBA, BBA, B.com and Law. These case studies and solutions are explained in very simple words without much difficult legal terms for the benefit of the students.

Below is the Business Law Case Studies with Solutions.

I. Indian Contract Act Case Studies

1. case study on basic contract act.

“A gives an offer in the newspaper for the sale of his HP laptop for Rs. 15000. He also stated that Those who are willing to purchase can send a message to his mobile.”” In this simple case consider the following situation and discuss the solution:

a) B was interested to purchase the laptop and sent a message stating that he wish to purchase for 12000. Was it an acceptance is given by B-

No it was not an acceptance It can be termed as counter offer. If feasible A has to give acceptance.

b) B was interested to purchase the same but he asked C to message on behalf of B. and C messaged as follows

“My friend B is interested to purchase your laptop for 15000”  . Here is this a valid Acceptance? is A binded by the acceptance.

No this is not a valid acceptance. The acceptance needs to be given by the accept-or itself. Hence A is not binded by the action of C.

c)  B who is much interested in purchasing the laptop had called Mr.A and given the acceptance through his phone. Is A obliged for acceptance given by B.

The acceptance must the given by the mode prescribed by the offer-or only. Hence in the given case the acceptance given by B through telephone is not an acceptance.

2. Case study on Valid Contract

Mr. X invited Mr. Y his business partner for X’s sisters marriage. Y accepted the invitation in this ground X booked a table in a costly hotel where the marriage takes place. Due to some reason Y could not attend the function. What type of contact is this. Is this a valid contract. Justify your answer.

This is not a valid contract on the following basis:

a. This is a social agreement. The agreement is not created with an intention to create legal relationship rather to create a social relationship.

b. There is no consideration involved in the contract hence it is not a valid contract.

II. Consumer Protection Act Case Studies

3. case study on who is a consumer.

a. Mr. A bought a printer from an electronics store for using it at home. The TV was defective. Is Mr. A a consumer?

Yes Mr. A is a consumer as he purchased the printer for his own use.

b. Balu is a distributor for computer accessories. He bought 100 pen-drives for selling to other computer vendors. Is Balu a consumer?

Balu is not a consumer as he has obtained accessories for resale.

4. Case study on Restrictive and Unfair trade practices

Mr. X went to a electronic shop to purchase a TV for his newly built house. He asked the information about Samsung 40 inches LED TV to the shop keeper. The shop keeper being a dealer of other brands misguide the customer stating that Samsung had planned to stop the production of 40 Inch LED TV’s. The shopkeeper made the customer believed the same and advice him to purchase some other brand.

The act of Shop keeper is Restrictive trade practice or Unfair trade practices?

The act of shopkeeper is a unfair trade practice as he had mislead the customer with a motive to increase his sale.

III. Sale of Goods Act 1930 Case studies

5. case study on sale or agreement to sell.

On 1st March 2017, Alex agreed to sell his car to Beny for Rs. 80,000. It was agreed between themselves that the ownership of the car will transfer to B on 31st March 2017. when the car is gets registered in Beny`s name. Justify whether it is sale or agreement to sell.

It is an agreement to sell and it will become sale on 31st March when the car is registered in the name of Beny.

6. Case study on Warranty

Anay purchased a second hand typewriter from Balu. Anay used it for sometime and also spend some money on its repairs. The typewriter turned out to be stolen one and as such Anay had to return it to the true owner chand. Is it a breach of Warranty or not. What remedy will Anay get?.

It is a breach of warranty. It is a implied warranty as to quite possession. It was held that Anay could recover damages from Balu amounting to the price paid and the cost of repair.

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4 Interesting Business Law Cases You Have to Hear

Americans are famous for frivolous lawsuits and excessive court cases. Some are complete wastes of time (remember when someone sued a weatherperson predicting the wrong weather?).

But there are other cases that can teach us a lot about law and business.

In this post, we’re going to go into detail about some of the most interesting business law cases. These cases can teach us about how the justice system works, how big businesses affect our daily lives, and about key aspects of business law as well.

Let’s get started! 

1. The Hot Coffee Lawsuit

The “Hot Coffee” lawsuit between Stella Liebeck and McDonald’s is one of the most well-known American lawsuits around the world. In short: Ms. Liebeck spilled a McDonald’s coffee on herself and suffered burns, so she sued McDonald’s for her injuries.

Most people don’t know details beyond that and write Ms. Liebeck off as a clumsy and money hungry old woman. However, did you know that this coffee was at a scalding 190 degrees? A good 50 degree above what most restaurants serve it at?

Ms. Liebeck suffered third-degree burns on her legs, groin, and abdomen. And it wasn’t only Ms. Liebeck. There had been over 700 complaints filed against McDonald’s for similar injuries that McDonald’s settled and swept under the rug without changing their heating policies.

When Ms. Liebeck approached asking the billion dollar conglomerate for a mere 800 dollars, they refused. This lead to the lawsuit that resulted in huge negative publicity for McDonald’s and a jury ordered settlement of 2.7 million dollars .

What can we learn here? That businesses need to take responsibility for their actions that lead to injury for consumers and employees. Learn more about personal injury cases and how they intersect with other areas of the law.

When businesses have dangerous business practices, they have an obligation to fix those things. McDonald’s ignored that proof and continued overheating of their coffee, which lead to the results of this lawsuit.

2. Apple vs the Department of Justice

Companies often work together to create products and campaigns that are mutually beneficial and provide profits to each company. This is legal.

What’s not legal, though, is conspiring to “fix” prices or create a monopoly over certain products. This is what brought a lawsuit against Apple by the United States Department of Justice.

The DOJ alleges that Apple met and conspired with CEOs of large publishing companies. They decided to raise (and fix) the prices of e-books in order to get an edge up over Amazon, one of Apple’s top competitors.

In business law, it’s illegal to create a monopoly or a “trust” over a product. By conspiring with publishers, the DOJ alleges they were creating a “trust” and were “price-fixing”. Both of these practices go against United States business law.

Apple lost and was forced to pay over 400 million dollars in fines to repay ebook purchasers who overpaid because of Apple’s illegal actions.

3. Beer Doesn’t Equal Beach Babes

One of the funnier ones on this list, this case was brought by Richard Overton against the company that makes Bud Light (Anheuser-Busch).

Overton claims that Anheuser-Busch broke false advertising laws when they showed a commercial of a man drinking beer and instantly being greeted by beautiful women in bikinis. He claimed that this was misleading and false advertising because when he cracked open a cold one, he was not greeted by those ladies.

This is, of course, ridiculous and Overton’s case for 10,000 dollars in damages was dropped.

But this does highlight an important business advertising and marketing concept. You can’t lie in your advertising .

Remember back in the Wild West when people would sell “miracle elixirs” claiming they cured all diseases? Advertising and marketing law now prohibits those types of false claims, which makes it illegal to mislead consumers with false info/trickery.

4. Battle of the Tigers

The last business law case we’re going over is one between two businesses, namely Kellogg and Exxon . Both Kellogg and Exxon have used similar looking tigers as their logos/mascots since the mid-1900s.

However, Kellogg decided in the early 2000s that they were going to sue Exxon over trademark issues regarding the tiger. They argued that Exxon’s tiger was too similar to their own and violated trademark agreements over who owned that imagery.

Trademark law is important for business since it gives companies ownership over logos, phrases, mascots, etc.

For example, it prevents someone from opening up their own coffee shop and calling it “Starbucks” while using the Starbucks logo. This is because those things are trademarked and owned by the Starbucks Corporation.

Kellogg trademarked Tony the Tiger in 1952 while Exxon trademarked their tiger called “Whimsical Tiger” in 1965. Kellogg didn’t contest or bring suit against Exxon at that time, and it became incontestable in 1970. 

Because of their inaction at the time of the creation of Exxon’s cartoon tiger, Exxon’s lack of use of the tiger in recent years, and lack of evidence showing any harm caused by Exxon’s use of the cartoon tiger, the charges brought by Kellogg were dismissed.

What Can We Learn from These Interesting Business Law Cases?

These four interesting business law cases can teach us a great deal about the special rules and regulations that businesses must follow. Besides consumer safety, they also have to be aware of their place in the economy, amongst other companies, and in the marketing/advertising sphere.

It’s important to understand these aspects if you’re thinking of owning or managing a business. To learn more, check out this article on choosing the right business model.

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Business Law Case Study - The Sole Proprietor

This Case Study is eligible for up to 1 Professionalism Hour

On February 23, 2018, John Ross, senior partner of the law firm, Ross & Simmons LLP in Oakville, Ontario, picked up a phone message from Vincent Serrano, auditor for his client, Williams Furniture Inc. (“WF Inc.”).  Vincent told John that the company’s sole owner and director, 74-year old Doris Williams, had a mental breakdown at the office and had been admitted to the hospital. With three large transactions requiring Doris’ approval due to close at the end of the week, John wondered what he was going to do. The Lawyer John Ross, a business lawyer called to the bar of Ontario in 1998, had practised for 20 years at Ross & Simmons LLP, a national business law firm. His practice focused on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, major project organization, corporate reorganization, and commercial real estate, and he acted for several business owner-managers and their Boards of Directors.  John had represented WF Inc. and its sole owner and director, Doris Williams, for the past 15 years.

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Find ethics case studies on bribery, sourcing, intellectual property, downsizing, and other topics in business ethics, corporate governance, and ethical leadership. (For permission to reprint articles, submit requests to [email protected] .)

In this business ethics case study, Swedish multinational company IKEA faced accusations relating to child labor abuses in the rug industry in Pakistan which posed a serious challenge for the company and its supply chain management goals.

A dog may be humanity’s best friend. But that may not always be the case in the workplace.

A recent college graduate works in the finance and analytics department of a large publicly traded software company and discovers an alarming discrepancy in sales records, raising concerns about the company’s commitment to truthful reporting to investors. 

What responsibility does an employee have when information they obtained in confidence from a coworker friend may be in conflict with the needs of the company or raises legal and ethical questions.

A manager at a prominent multinational company is ethically challenged by a thin line between opportunity for economic expansion in a deeply underserved community, awareness of child labor practices, and cultural relativism.

A volunteer providing service in the Dominican Republic discovered that the non-profit he had partnered with was exchanging his donor money on the black market, prompting him to navigate a series of complex decisions with significant ethical implications.

The CFO of a family business faces difficult decisions about how to proceed when the COVID-19 pandemic changes the business revenue models, and one family shareholder wants a full buyout.

An employee at an after-school learning institution must balance a decision to accept or decline an offered gift, while considering the cultural norms of the client, upholding the best interests of all stakeholders, and following the operational rules of his employer. 

A senior vice president for a Fortune 500 savings and loan company is tasked with the crucial responsibility of representing the buyer in a multi-million dollar loan purchase deal and faces several ethical challenges from his counterpart representing the seller.

Extensive teaching note based on interviews with Theranos whistleblower Tyler Shultz. The teaching note can be used to explore issues around whistleblowing, leadership, the blocks to ethical behavior inside organizations, and board governance.

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