Question

Outline and explain two (2) types of torts a business may be liable for and explain why. Then, explore some of the steps a company may take to avoid liability for the torts you discussed. Be sure to provide legal support for your analysis.

Answer 1

• Business torts, also called "economic torts," are wrongful acts committed against business entities -- often intentional but sometimes due to negligence or recklessness -- that cause (or are likely to cause in the future) some kind of financial loss. They are not criminal offenses, although some business torts also may be charged as such (including restraint of trade in some cases).
• Businesses that are financially injured through the intentional or negligent act of another business or individual may seek monetary damages in civil court, although sometimes courts will issue injunctions ordering the defendant to cease certain unlawful activities.
• These intentional torts are not committed against persons or property. Instead, the harm done is to intangible assets, such as economic interests or business relationships.
• Fraudulent misrepresentation, known also as fraud or deceit, protects economic interests and the right to fair and honest treatment. For a fraud claim, a plaintiff must establish that the defendant intentionally misrepresented a material fact and the plaintiff relied on and was harmed by the misrepresentation.
• For example, if a business submits materially misleading financial statements to a bank in an attempt to secure a loan and the bank, relying on such statements, lends money to the business, the bank will have a fraud claim against the business if the business later defaults on the loan.
  
• Negligence is distinguished from intentional torts because there is a lack of intent to cause harm.
• An emerging area in tort law is whether or not businesses have a duty to warn or protect customers for random crimes committed by other customers. By definition, crimes are random and therefore not foreseeable.
• However, some cases have determined that if a business knows about, or should know about, a high likelihood of crime occurring, then that business must warn or take steps to protect its customers.
• For example, in one case a state supreme court held that when a worker at Burger King ignored a group of boisterous and loud teenagers, Burger King was liable when those teenagers then assaulted other customers.
• Businesses owe a duty to exercise a reasonable degree of care to protect the public from foreseeable risks that the owner knew or should have known about. There are many foreseeable ways for customers to be injured in retail stores, from falling objects improperly placed on high shelves, to light fixtures exploding or falling due to improper installation, to customers being injured by forklifts in so-called warehouse stores.
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