Assignment Prompt:
The following table lists three (3) companies that have been involved in a consumer or antitrust problem. Select ONE of these companies from the first column as the subject of your paper.
You are provided source links in the table about the company to get you started. You will need to conduct more research about the company as to the issue, as well as the applicable ethical frameworks and other legal theories.
See further instructions following the table.
Company/Issue
Fact source with APA citation to get you started
Comments
(Antitrust)
U.S. Dept. of Justice. (2020, October). Justice Department sues monopolist Google for violating antitrust laws.
Stated purpose of suit “to stop Google from unlawfully maintaining monopolies through anticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and search advertising markets and to remedy the competitive harms.”
Other legal issues you might look into regarding Google are invasion of privacy, contracts, defamation, intellectual property
Wells Fargo
(Consumer)
Navajo Nation
Fox, T. (2019, September 1). Wells Fargo pays Navajo Nation $6.5 million over predatory business tactics. Corpwatch.
The broader background for this is the Wells Fargo bogus accounts scandal, but THIS inquiry is specifically what WF did targeting the Navajo and others, primarily minorities, lacking English language skills.
In addition to the main consumer issues, other legal topics might include alternate dispute resolution (settlement), criminal law, civil rights, contract fraud
Takata
(Consumer)
Exploding airbags
Padmanabhan, K. (2017, January 20). Takata fined $1 billion for hiding information on exploding car airbags. Corpwatch.
Other legal topics you might include are product liability, wrongful death, alternate dispute resolution (settlement)
When you have selected your company, research and cover the following points in a well written essay. Use APA7 format and topical headings. Here is a sample APA7 student paper to follow for title page, headings, etc. (at Purdue Owl).
In an introductory paragraph identify the company, the topic and a well crafted thesis statement.
Briefly describe the company and the nature of its business and corporate business environment. Do not spend a lot of time on the history of the company, but do describe sufficiently to create meaningful context. This should only need to be a paragraph.
Research, define and discuss the legal issues and regulatory environment for the company’s consumer issue. Include case law.
