Cengage Advantage Books: Business Law Today, The Essentials 10th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller

Exercise 10

Business Law Critical Thinking Group Assignment. Dean Brothers Corp. owns and operates a steel drum manufacturing plant. Lowell Wyden, the plant superintendent, hired Best Security Patrol, Inc. (BSP), a security company, to guard Dean property and "deter thieves and vandals." Some BSP security guards, as Wyden knew, carried firearms. Pete Sidell, a BSP security guard, was not certified as an armed guard but nevertheless took his gun to work. While working at the Dean plant on October 31, 2014, Sidell fired his gun at Tyrone Gaines, in the belief that Gaines was an intruder. The bullet struck and killed Gaines. Gaines's mother filed a lawsuit claiming that her son's death was the result of BSP's negligence, for which Dean was responsible.
1. The first group will determine what the plaintiff's best argument is to establish that Dean is responsible for BSP's actions.
2. The second group will discuss Dean's best defense and formulate arguments in support of it.