Business Law Course Pam and Russ Apple were shopping at Win-Co for Thanksgiving.
ID: 362293 • Letter: B
Question
Business Law Course
Pam and Russ Apple were shopping at Win-Co for Thanksgiving. While searching for turkey gravy, Pam was hit by a forklift driven by Win-Co employee Clyde Drysdale. The Apples filed a suit against Win-Co Cooperative, a member-owned cooperative, alleging that Win-Co was negligent in hiring and training Drysdale who had a prior DUI conviction. Answer the following questions:
1. What is a cooperative?
2. What is meant by joint and several liability?
3. If Win-Co is found to have acted negligently, can its members be held jointly liable for the cooperative’s acts?
Answer need to use legal terms (:
Explanation / Answer
According to Robert Covin (2001) and Frank Diekmann (2010), a cooperative is an autonomous and independent body that is formed when individuals come together for a common goal or vision. The cooperatives work in various sectors like agricultural products, childcare schools, insurances, healthcare, legal services, employment services, food industry etc. It is under the democratic control and they train and educate their employees to strengthen their skills and contribute to the company. The member-owners have equal shares in the control. According to International Cooperative Alliance (2012), the cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet the social, economic, and cultural needs and aspirations through a democratically-controlled enterprise. Joint Liability and Several Liability are part of the Common Law. When two or more persons are liable for the same liability, it can be jointly liable or severally liable or joint and severally liable. Joint liability occurs when all the parties are liable to pay the full amount of the obligation (Larson Aaron, 2016). For example, if a father and a son have taken a loan from a bank and father dies, then the son is having the obligation to pay the entire amount. The several liability is also known as proportionate liability where individual parties are liable for their own respective obligations. If in a class, everyone has taken a loan from a single bank and someone does not pay then the rest of the students are not liable to pay the amount on behalf of someone. Joint and several liability is used when a claimant may pursue an obligation against one party as if they were jointly liable and it becomes the responsibility of the defendants to sort out the respective proportions of liability and payment (Larson Aaron, 2016; Law Commission, Government of New Zealand, 2017). If Win-Co is found to have acted negligently, then its members can be held jointly liable for the cooperative’s acts. As Pam was hit by a forklift driven by Win-Co employee Clyde, the court can use a joint liability system asking the member of the cooperatives to pay Pam Apple.
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