Exam 14: Agency and the Employment Relationship

A company that buys patents for the purpose of threatening others with lawsuits for patent infringement is known as a:

In the European Union the regulation governing which country's laws apply to an employment law contract involving multiple nationalities is known as:

____ takes place when the principal behaves as if he has the intent of ratifying an unauthorized agreement.

In Cove Management v. AFLAC, Galgano, an independent contractor who solicited insurance business for AFLAC, rented office space from Cove under AFLAC's name. When Galgano defaulted on payments, Cove sued AFLAC contending that Galgano was its agent when he rented the office, so AFLAC was liable. The appeals court held that:

Implied authority consists of:

When there is an undisclosed principal, the agent is:

Geary was an employee of U.S. Steel. His concerns about the safety of a new product were ignored by his superior. He went to higher management to let them know of the problem. The product was withdrawn from the market, but Geary was fired by his superior. Geary sued the company for wrongful dismissal. The Pennsylvania court held that Geary:

An agent with authority to represent the principal only for a specific transaction, usually for a limited time is a(n):

The scope of an agent's authority is determined from the:

When a principal accepts the consequences of the activities of a person who had previously not been the principal's agent, the principal:

A factor courts may consider in determining whether an act was within the course and scope of employment under vicarious liability is, was the:

An agent is expected to perform responsibilities with the degree of care that is called ordinary care under the circumstances.

A(n) ____ is a principal's clear signal to be bound to the otherwise unauthorized agreement.

Fact Pattern 14-1 Emile owns Emile's Used Car Emporium. Several people work for him at the Emporium. When Emile is gone, he leaves one of his best salespersons, Meg, in charge. Over the years, Emile has given Meg the authority to contract with vendors, negotiate sales, and conclude car sales contracts in his name. One August, Emile takes a long vacation, leaving Meg in charge. While he is gone a hurricane hits Florida where the Emporium is located, causing severe damage. Because Emile is floating down the Amazon, Meg cannot reach him for instructions. She decides that rather than leave the place in shambles, she will hire people to repair the Emporium. Meg hires a carpenter to rebuild a wall that was blown down by the storm. Phil, the carpenter, is busy at work on his scaffold when Meg's Scottish terrier Adam, who she keeps with her at work, plows into the scaffolding while chasing a cat. Phil is knocked off the scaffold and falls ten feet to the ground, suffering a broken leg. -Refer to Fact Pattern 14-1. When Meg acts to repair the Emporium after the hurricane, she is acting as an agent:

Anderson was in Las Vegas for an industry trade show. One night, after having a lot to drink, she went to her room at 2a.m. A hotel employee, who had a passkey, entered her room and raped her. He was apprehended and convicted. Anderson sued the hotel for negligently hiring as the employee had threatened a supervisor and there had been other instances of sexual assaults by hotel employees. The trial court held that the hotel was not liable because this assault was not foreseeable. The Nevada high court:

The duties of a principal to an agent do not include:

An express contract for certain terms of employment can restrict employment at-will.

In the case of an undisclosed principal, a third party is unaware of the identity of the principal as well as the existence of an agency relationship.

Some state courts hold that employment contracts contain implied covenants of good faith and fair dealing.

Compared to the United State, the European Union has: