BUS 206 Final Project
Three entrepreneurs decide to start a business, Funny Face, in the state of California. This business sells aftershave lotion via the internet. The business has the product manufactured and distributed by a company, Novelty Now, located in Florida. A customer, Donald Margolin, who lives in New York purchased the product and has an adverse effect, turning his face a shade of blue. Margolin decides to file a lawsuit against Novelty Now and Funny Face within the state of New York.
We must identify the specific rules of jurisdiction that apply to this case. In-person jurisdiction is a court's power to render a decision affecting the rights of a specific person before the court. Also, a minimum contacts requirement must be met which is defined as acts like committing a tort or doing business in the state that is sufficient to allow the state to serve the defendant for jurisdictional purposes. Due to neither defendant residing within the state of New York, we would apply the long-arm statutes which allow for the service of the out-of-state defendants due to sufficient minimum contacts within the state of New York. Due to Funny Face being sold over the internet it creates the necessary minimum contact which will allow for the case to be held within the New York State courts. In looking at cases such as International Shoe Co v. State of Washington and Caterpillar v. Kentucky, because these businesses conducted business and their products caused injury within the respective states, the states held there was personal jurisdiction that would allow for the suit to continue.
The defendants and plaintiff could decide to prevent going through the courts by utilizing an alternative dispute resolution, ADR. The most beneficial ADR methods for the involved parties, in this case, could be mediation or arbitration. Mediation would allow for the parties to participate and contact a mediator that could help all involved parties come to an agreement. The Mediator is an unbiased uninvolved third party whose sole purpose is to help the parties come to an agreement that will be most beneficial for all involved. Mediations advantages consist of helping the involved parties maintain their relationships, which could help Funny Face and Novelty Now if they decided to continue doing business together in the future. Another advantage to mediation is the ability to be involved in the resolution. Some disadvantages of mediation are that the resolution may not actually be equal for the parties and it can lead parties expecting to fail to enter mediation in the hopes of at least getting something. If mediation is unsuccessful then Arbitration would be the next viable option without continuing the lawsuit.
Arbitration is like mediation but does not use the involved parties to work together to come to an agreement. Arbitration is very similar to a trial. The involved parties can present their case to the arbitrator, use witnesses, cross-exam...
