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147 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Actionable
Capable of serving as the basis of a lawsuit.
Actual Malice
A condition that exists when a person makes a statement with either knowledge of its falsity or a reckless disregard for the truth. In a defamation suit, a statement made about a public figure normally must be made with actual malice for liability to be incurred.
Appropriation
In tort law, the use by one person of another person’s name, likeness, or other identifying characteristic without permission and for the benefit of the user.
Assault
Any word or action intended to make another person fearful of immediate physical harm; a reasonably believable threat.
Assumption of Risk
A defense against negligence that can be used when the plaintiff was aware of a danger and voluntarily assumed the risk of injury from that danger.
Battery
The unprivileged, intentional touching of another.
Business Invitee
Those people, such as customers or clients, who are invited onto business premises by the owner of those premises for business purposes.
Business Tort
Wrongful interference with the business rights of another.
Causation In Fact
An act of omission without (“but for”) which an event would not have occurred.
Comparative Negligence
A theory in tort law under which the liability for injuries resulting from negligent acts is shared by all parties who were negligent (including the injured party), on the basis of each person’s proportionate negligence.
Compensatory Damages
A money award equivalent to the actual value of injuries or damages sustained by the aggrieved party.
Contributory Negligence
A theory in tort law under which a complaining party’s own negligence contributed to or caused his or her injuries. Contributory negligence is an absolute bar to recovery in a minority of jurisdictions.
Conversion
The wrongful taking, using, or retaining possession of personal property that belongs to another.
Cyber Tort
A tort committed via the Internet.
Defamation
Any published or publicly spoken false statement that causes injury to another’s good name, reputation, or character
Disparagement Of Property
An economically injurious false statement made about another’s product or property. A general term for torts that are more specifically referred to as slander of quality or slander of title.
Dram Shop Act
A state statute that imposes liability on the owners of bars and taverns, as well as those who serve alcoholic drinks to the public, for injuries resulting from accidents caused by intoxicated persons when the sellers or servers of alcoholic drinks contributed to the intoxication.
Fraudulent Misrepresentation (Fraud)
Any misrepresentation, either by misstatement or omission of material fact, knowingly made with the intention of deceiving another and on which a reasonable person would and does rely to his or her detriment.
Good Samaritan Statute
A state statute that provides that persons who rescue or provide emergency services to other in peril – unless they do so recklessly, thus causing further harm – cannot be sued for negligence.
Intentional Tort
A wrongful act knowingly committed.
Libel
Defamation in writing or other form (such as in a videotape) having the quality of performance.
Malpractice
Professional misconduct or the failure to exercise the requisite degree of skill as a professional. Negligence – the failure to exercise due care – on the part of a professional, such as physician or an attorney, is commonly referred to as malpractice.
Negligence
The failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise in similar circumstances.
Negligence per se
An act (or failure to act) in violation of a statutory requirement.
Privilege
In tort law, the ability to act contrary to another person’s right without that person’s having legal redress for such acts. Privilege may be raised as a defense to defamation.
Proximate Cause
Legal cause; exists when the connection between an act and an injury is strong enough to justify imposing liability.
Public Figures
Individuals who are thrust into the public limelight. Public figures include government officials and politicians, movie stars, well-known businesspersons, and generally anybody who becomes known to the public because of his or her position or activities.
Punitive Damages
Money damages that may be awarded to a plaintiff to punish the defendant and deter future similar conduct.
Reasonable Person Standard
The standard of behavior expected of a hypothetical “reasonable person”. The standard against which negligence is measured and that must be observed to avoid liability for negligence.
Res Ipsa Loquitur
A doctrine under which negligence may be inferred simply because an event occurred, if it is the type of event that would not occur in the absence of negligence. Literally, the term means “the facts speak for themselves”.
Slander
Defamation in oral form.
Slander of Quality
The publication of false information about another’s product, alleging that it is not what its seller claims.
Slander of Title
The publication of a statement that denies or casts doubt on another’s legal ownership of any property, causing financial loss to that property’s owner. Also called trade libel.
Spam
Bulk, unsolicited (junk) e-mail.
Superseding Cause
An intervening force or event that breaks the connection between a wrongful act and an injury to another; in negligence law, a defense to liability.
Tort
A civil wrong not arising from a breach of contract. A breach of a legal duty that proximately causes harm or injury to another.
Tortfeasor
One who commits a tort.
Trade libel
The publication of false information about another’s product, alleging it is not what its seller claims; also referred to as a slander of quality.
Trespass to land
The entry onto, above, or below the surface of land owned by another without the owner’s permission or legal authorization.
Trespass to personal property
The unlawful taking or harming of another’s personal property; interference with another’s right to the exclusive possession of his or her personal property.
Bystander
A spectator, witness, or person who was standing nearby when an event occurred and who did not engage in the business or act of leading to the event.
Market-Share Liability
A method of sharing liability among several firms that manufactured or marketed a particular product that may have caused a plaintiff’s injury. Each firm’s liability is proportionate to its respective share of relevant market for the product. Market-share liability applies only if the injuring product is fungible, the true manufacture is unidentifiable, and the unknown character of the manufacturer is not the plaintiff’s fault.
Product Liability
The legal liability of manufacturers, sellers, and lessors of goods to consumers, users, and bystanders for injuries or damages that are caused by the goods.
Product Misuse
A defense against product liability that may be raised when the plaintiff used a product in a manner of not intended by the manufacturer. If the misuse is reasonably foreseeable, the seller will not escape liability unless measures were taken to guard against the harm that could result from the misuse.
Statute of Repose
Basically, a statute of limitations that is not dependent on the happening of a cause of action. Statutes of repose generally begin to run at an earlier date and run for a longer period of time than statutes of limitations.
Strict Liability
Liability regardless of fault. In tort law, strict liability may be imposed on defendants in cases involving abnormally dangerous activities, dangerous animals, or defective products.
Unreasonably Dangerous Product
In product liability, a product that is defective to the point of threatening a consumer’s health and safety. A product will be considered beyond the expectation of the ordinary consumer or if a less dangerous alternative was economically feasible for the manufacturer, but the manufacturer failed to produce it.
Certification Mark
A mark used by one or more persons, other than the owner, to certify the region, materials, mode of manufacture, quality, or accuracy of the owner’s goods or services. When used by members of a cooperative, association, or other organization, such a mark is referred to as a collective mark. Examples of certification marks include the “Good housekeeping Seal of Approval” and “UL Tested”.
Cloud Computing
The delivery to users of on-demand services from third-party servers over a network. Cloud computing is a delivery model. The most widely used cloud computing services are Software as a Service (SaaS) which offers companies a cheaper way to buy and use packaged applications that are no longer run on servers in house.
Collective Mark
A mark used by members of a cooperative, association, or other organization to certify the region, materials, mode of manufacture, quality, or accuracy of the specific goods or services. Examples of collective marks include the labor union marks found on tags of certain products and the credits of movies, which indicate the various associations and organizations that participated in the making of the movies.
Copyright
The exclusive right of authors to publish, print, or sell an intellectual production for a statutory period of time. A copyright has the same monopolistic nature as a patent or trademark, but it differs in that it applies exclusively to works of art, literature, and other works of authorship, including computer programs.
Cyber Mark
A trademark in cyberspace.
Cybersquatting
The act of registering a domain name that is the same as, or confusingly similar to, the trademark of another and then offering to sell that domain name back to the trademark owner.
Dilution
With respect to trademarks, a doctrine under which distinctive or famous trademarks are protected from certain unauthorized uses of the marks regardless of a showing of competition or a likelihood of confusion. Congress created a federal cause of action for dilution in 1995 with the passage of the Federal Trademark Dilution Act.
Distributed Network
A network that can be used by persons located (distributed) around the country or the globe to share computer files.
Domain Name
The series of letters and symbols used to identify site operators on the Internet; Internet “addresses”.
Intellectual property
Property resulting from intellectual, creative processes. Patents, trademarks, and copyrights are examples of intellectual property.
License
A revocable right or privilege of a person to come on another person’s land.
Meta Tag
Words inserted into a Web site’s keywords field to increase the site’s appearance in search engine results.
Patent
A government grant that gives an inventor the exclusive right or privilege to make, use, or sell his or her invention for a limited time period. The word patent usually refers to some invention and designates either the instrument by with patent rights are evidenced or the patent itself.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Networking
The sharing of resource (such as files, hard drives, and processing styles) among multiple computers without necessarily requiring a central network server.
Service Mark
A mark used in the sale or the advertising of services, such as to distinguish the services of one person from the services of others. Titles, character names, and other distinctive features or radio and television program may be registered as service marks.
Trade Dress
The image and overall appearance of a product – for example, the distinctive décor, menu, layout, and style of service of a particular restaurant. Basically, trade dress is subject to the same protection as trademarks.
Trade Name
A term that is used to indicate part or all of a business’s name and that is directly related to the business’s reputation and goodwill. Trade names are protected under the common law (and under trademark law, if the name is the same as the firm’s trademark).
Trade Secret
Information or a process that gives a business an advantage over competitors who do not know the information or process.
Trademark
A distinctive mark, motto, device, or implement that a manufacturer stamps, prints, or otherwise affixed to the goods it produces so that they may be identified on the market and their origins made known. Once a trademark is established (under the common law or through registration), the owner is entitled to its exclusive use.
Typosquatting
Registering a name that is a misspelling of a popular brand, such as hotmai.com or myspac.com.
Bait-and-Switch Advertising
Advertising a product at a very attractive price (the bait) and then informing the consumer, once he or she is in the store, that the advertised product is either not available or is of poor quality; the customer is then urged to purchase (switched to) a more expensive item.
Consumer Law
The body of statutes, agency rules, and judicial decisions protecting consumers of goods and services from dangerous manufacturing techniques, mislabeling, unfair credit practices, deceptive advertising, and so on. Consumer laws provide remedies and protections that are not ordinarily available to merchants or to businesses.
“Cooling-off” Laws
A set of federal and state laws designed to protect purchasers and leasees of goods and property. For example, the Federal Trade Commission’s cooling-off period is three business days for purchases of goods and services from door-to-door salespersons. Cooling off periods vary for loans, mortgages, leases, etc.
Counteradvertising
New advertising that is undertaken pursuant to a Federal Trade Commission order for the purpose of correcting earlier false claims that were made about a product.
Deceptive advertising
Advertising that misleads consumers, either by making unjustified claims concerning a product’s performance or by omitting a material fact concerning the product’s composition or performance.
Multiple Product Orders
An order issued by the Federal Trade Commission to a firm that has engaged in deceptive advertising by which the firm is required to cease and desist from false advertising not only in regard to the product that was the subject of the action but also in regard to all the firm’s other products.
Regulation Z
A set of rules promulgated by the Federal Board to implement the provisions of the Truth-in-Lending Act.
Validation Notice
An initial notice to a debtor from a collection agency informing the debtor that he or she has thirty days to challenge the debt and request verification.
Agency
A relationship between two parties in which one party (the agent) agrees to represent or act for the other (the principal).
Apparent Authority
Authority that is only apparent, not real. In agency law, a person may be deemed to have had the power to act as an agent for another party if the other party’s manifestations to a third party led the third party to believe that an agency existed when, in fact, it did not.
Disclosed principal
A principal whose identity is known to a third party at the time the agent makes a contract with the third party.
E-Agent
A computer program, electronic, or other automated means used to perform specific tasks without review by an individual.
Equal Dignity Rule
In most states, a rule stating that express authority given to an agent must be in writing if the contract to be made on behalf of the principal is required to be in writing.
Express Authority
Authority expressly given by one party to another. In agency law, an agent has express authority to act for a principal if both parties agree, orally or in writing, that an agency relationship exists in which the agent had the power (authority) to act in the pace of, and on behalf of, the principal.
Fiduciary
As a noun, a person having a duty created by his or her undertaking to act primarily for another’s benefit in matters connected with the undertaking. As an adjective, a relationship founded on trust and confidence.
Implied Authority
Authority that is created not by an explicit oral or written agreement but by implication. In agency law, implied authority (of the agent) can be conferred by custom, inferred from the position the agent occupies, or implied by virtue of being reasonably necessary to carry out express authority.
Independent Contractor
One who works for, and receives a payment from, an employer but whose working conditions and methods are not controlled by the employer. An independent contractor is not an employee but may be an agent.
Notary Public
A public official authorized to attest to the authenticity of signatures.
Power of Attorney
A written document, which is usually notarized, authorizing another to act as one’s agent; can be special (permitting the agent to do specified acts only) or general (permitting the agent to transact all business for the principal).
Ratification
The act of accepting and giving legal force to an obligation that previously was not enforceable.
Respondeat Superior
In Latin, “Let the master respond.” A doctrine under which a principal or an employer is held liable for the wrongful acts committed by agents or employees while acting within the course and scope of their agency or employment.
Undisclosed Principal
A principal whose identity is unknown by a third person, and the third person has no knowledge that the agent is acting for a principal at the time the agent and the third person form a contract.
Unidentified Principal
A principal whose identity is unknown by a third person, but the third person knows that the agent is or may be acting for a principal at the time the agent and the third person form a contract.
Vicarious Liability
Legal responsibility placed on one person for the acts of another.
Employment At Will
A common law doctrine under which either party may terminate an employment relationship at any time for any reason, unless a contract specifies otherwise.
Minimum Wage
The lowest wage, either by government regulation or union contract, that an employer may pay an hourly worker.
Vesting
Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, a pension plan becomes vested when an employee has a legal right to the benefits purchased with the employer’s contributions, even if the employee is no longer working for this employer.
Whistleblowing
An employee’s disclosure to government, the press, or upper-management authorities that the employer is engaged in unsafe or illegal activities.
Workers’ Compensation Laws
State statutes establishing an administrative procedure for compensating workers’ injuries that arise out of – or in the course of – their employment, regardless of fault.
Wrongful Discharge
An employer’s termination of an employee’s employment in violation of an employment contract or laws that protect employees.
Affirmative Action
Job-hiring policies that give special consideration to members of protected classes in an effort to overcome present effects of past discrimination.
Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ)
Identifiable characteristics reasonably necessary to the normal operation of a particular business. These characteristics can include gender, national origin, and religion, but not race.
Business Necessity
A defense to allegations of employment discrimination in which the employer demonstrates that an employment practice that discriminates against members of a protected class is related to job performance.
Constructive Discharge
A termination of employment brought about by making an employee’s working conditions so intolerable that the employee reasonably feels compelled to leave.
Disparate-Impact Discrimination
A form of employment discrimination that results from certain employer practices or procedures that, although not discriminatory on their face, have a discriminatory effect.
Disparate- Treatment Discrimination
A form of employment discrimination that results when an employer intentionally discriminates against employees who are members of protected classes.
Employment Discrimination
Treating employees or job applicants unequally on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, or disability; prohibited by federal statutes.
Prima Facie Case
A case in which the plaintiff has produced sufficient evidence of his or her conclusion that the case can go to jury; a case in which the evidence compels the plaintiff’s conclusion if the defendant produces no evidence to disprove it.
Protected Class
A class of persons with identifiable characteristics who historically have been victimized by discriminatory treatment for certain purposes. Depending on the context, these characteristics include age, color, gender, national origin, race, and religion.
Seniority System
In regard to employment relationships, a system in which those who have worked longest for the company are first in line for promotions, salary increase, and other benefits; they are also the last to be laid off if the workforce must be reduced.
Sexual Harassment
In the employment context, the granting of job promotions or other benefits in return for sexual favors or language or conduct that is so sexually offensive that it creates a hostile working environment.
Tangible Employment Action
A significant change in employment status, such as firing or failing to promote an employee, reassigning the employee to a position with significantly different responsibilities, or effecting a significant change in employment benefits.
Antitrust Law
The body of federal and state laws and statutes protecting trade and commerce from unlawful restraints, price discrimination, price fixing, and monopolies. The principal federal antitrust statutes are the Sherman Act of 1890, the Clayton Act of 1914, and the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914.
Attempted Monopolization
Any actions by a firm to eliminate competition and gain monopoly power.
Divestiture
The act of selling one or more of a company’s parts, such as a subsidiary or plant; often mandated by the courts in merger or monopolization cases.
Market Power
The power of a firm to control the market price of its product. A monopoly has the greatest degree of market power.
Monopolization
The possession of monopoly power in the relevant market and the willful acquisition or maintenance of that power, as distinguished from growth or development as a consequence of a superior product, business acumen, or historic accident.
Monopoly
A term generally used to describe a market in which there is a single seller or a limited number of sellers.
Monopoly Power
The ability of a monopoly to dictate what takes place in a given market.
Concentrated Industry
An industry in which a large percentage of market sales is controlled by either a single firm or a small number of firms.
Conglomerate Merger
A merger between firms that do not compete with each other because they are in different markets (as opposed to horizontal and vertical mergers).
Exclusive-Dealing Contract
An agreement under which a seller forbids a buyer to purchase products from the seller’s competitors.
Group Boycott
The refusal to deal with a particular person or firm by a group of competitors; prohibited by the Sherman Act.
Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI)
An index measuring market concentration for purposes of antitrust enforcement; calculated by summing the squares of the percentage market shares held by the respective firms.
Horizontal Market Division
Agreements to divide up the market among rival firms.
Horizontal Merger
A merger between two firms that are competing in the same market.
Horizontal Restraint
Any agreement that in some way restrains competition between rival firms competing in the same market.
Market Concentration
A situation that exists when a small number of firms share the market for a particular good or service. For example, if the four largest grocery stores in Chicago accounted for 80 percent of all retail food sales, the market clearly would be concentrated in those four firms.
Per Se Violation
A type of anticompetitive agreement - such as a horizontal price-fixing agreement - that is considered to be so injurious to the public that there is so no need to determine whether it actually injures market competition; rather, it is in itself (per se) a violation of the Sherman Act.
Price Fixing
An agreement between competitors in which the competitors agree to fix the prices of products or services at a certain level; prohibited by the Sherman Act.
Resale Price Maintenance Agreement
An agreement between a manufacturer and a retailer in which the manufacturer specifies the minimum retail price of its products. Resale price maintenance agreements are illegal per se under the Sherman Act.
Rule of Reason
A test by which a court balances the positive effects (such as economic efficiency) of an agreement against its potentially anticompetitive effects. In antitrust litigation, many practices are analyzed under the rule of reason.
Tying Arrangement
An agreement between a buyer and a seller in which the buyer of a specific product or service becomes obligated to purchase additional products or services from the seller.
Vertical Merger
The acquisition by a company at one stage of production of a company at a higher or lower stage of production (such as its supplier or retailer).
Vertical Restraint
Any restraint on trade created by agreements between firms at different levels in the manufacturing and distribution process.
Vertically Integrated Firm
A firm that carries out two or more functional phases - such as manufacture, distribution, retailing - of a product.
Accredited Investor
In the context of securities offerings, “sophisticated” investors, such as banks, insurance companies, investment companies, the issuer’s executive officers and directors, and persons whose income or net worth exceeds certain limits.
Blue Sky Laws
State laws that regulate the offer and sale of securities.
Corporate Governance
The relationship between a corporate and its shareholders - specifically, a system that details the distribution of rights and responsibilities of those within the corporation and spells out the rules and procedures for making corporate decisions.
Free-Writing Prospectus
A free writing prospectus is any type of written, electronic, or graphic offer that describes the issuing corporation or its securities and includes a legend indicating that the investor may obtain the prospectus at the SEC’s Web site.
Insider Trading
The purchase or sale of securities on the basis of “inside information” (information that has not been made available to the public) in violation of a duty owed to the company whose stock is being traded.
Investment Company
A company that acts on behalf of many smaller shareholder-owners by buying a large portfolio of securities and professionally managing that portfolio.
Investment Contract
In securities law, a transaction in which a person invests in a common enterprise reasonably expecting profits that are derived primarily from the efforts of others.
Mutual Fund
A specific type of investment company that continually buys or sells to investors shares of ownership in a portfolio.
Prospectus
A document required by federal or state securities laws that describes the financial operations of the corporation, thus allowing investors to make informed decisions.
Red Herring Prospectus
A preliminary prospectus that can be distributed to potential investors after the registration statement (for a securities offering) has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The name derives from the red legend printed across the prospectus stating that the registration has been filed but has not become effective.
SEC Rule 10b-5
A rule of the Securities and Exchange Commission that makes it unlawful, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security, to make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit a material fact it such omission causes the statement to be misleading.
Stock Option/Stock Warrant
A certificate that grants the owner the option to buy a given number of shares of stock usually within a set time period.
Tippee
A person who receives inside information
Tombstone Ad
An advertisement, historically in a format resembling a tombstone, of a securities offering. The ad informs potential investors of where and how they may obtain a prospectus.