1. Bill, a Dallas county resident who claims he was detained when leaving shoppi
ID: 3503745 • Letter: 1
Question
1. Bill, a Dallas county resident who claims he was detained when leaving shopping an ABC Inc Dallas grocery store, is suing ABC for $200,000. The following notice was displayed at the store entrance and on each customer receipt. "All customer receipts and merchandise will be inspected as you leave." Bill was stopped in the store's parking lot by Joe, the store's employee security guard who loudly called Bill a thief when Bill refused to show his receipt. Joe grabbed Bill by the arm and used a martial arts strike causing Bill's leg to fracture. During discovery, Bill learned Joe had been discharged from previous retail security guard employment for "strong-arming" customers. ABC is incorporated under Nevada law with its principal place of business in San Francisco and its principal Texas office in Houston (Harris County). Please explain a. b. Whether a Texas state court of general civil jurisdiction will be able to hear this lawsuit. Assuming for this subpart that a Texas court would have jurisdiction, where venue is proper c. Whether ABC can remove the suit to federal court. d. ABC's potential tort liabilities to Bill. e. How two specific forms of discovery might be used by ABC to defend this suit. f. What Bill would need to prove to obtain punitive damages related to the above. 2. Kate, a Texas resident, purchased a case of wine on-line directly from a Wild Grape Winery a vintner incorporated under Texas law with its only physical facility near Austin. She chose this product over a comparable California wine because of a Texas regulation prohibiting direct sales from out of state wineries to Texas residents. She became seriously ill after drinking one glass and was hospitalized for a week where she received appropriate medical care. The wine's label stated that "only healthy methods were used in the fermentation process." Shortly after Kate's recovery, an on-line platform for comments about celebrities posted an article it had helped author about how the winery's owner, a noted actress and California resident, had encouraged the winery's use of a fermentation process banned in California because of its health dangers. The article also reported that the actress had a debilitating personal illness, a fact her publicist had not disclosed to the media. Although the posted article about the fermentation process ban and actress's illness were substantially true, its account of the actress' role in selecting the fermenting process was not true. Please discuss: b. c. d. Any issue(s) related to the Texas regulation. Whether the actress could sue the on-line platform in a California court. Potential liabilities of the on-line platform to the actress. Potential liabilities of the Texas winery to Kate 3. a. b. Briefly discuss any issues raised in the following situations. A data breach occurring in Texas and affecting customers from fifteen states. An employee whose employment agreement mandates arbitration of any disputes filing of a Title VII suit in state court. c. A defendant's failure to timely respond to the above suit. d. A city's turn-off of a customer's water for alleged non-payment of a water bill. A local travel agent's refusal to comply with federal legislation passed under the authority of the commerce clauseExplanation / Answer
Answer 1. a.
The issue involves a lawsuite against an out-of-state resident and it can be pursued in the small claims court within Texas. This is because even though the company may have its main office in San Francisco, California, Out-of-state residents here ABC, can successfully be sued in-state if the claimant manages to serve them with court papers while they're physically within the Texas borders and if the dispute arose in the state of Texas.
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