Actions That Lead to Lawsuits - Essay Example

? Local Lawsuit Introduction of the Company The company that has been chosen for the study is Monsanto, which is based in United s of America and is one of the pioneers in the agrochemicals. The company was formed in the year 1901 and started as the manufacturer of the non-natural sweetener saccharin. The company is known as one of the top US chemical companies since the 1940s (GM Watch, n.d.). Actions that Lead to Lawsuits It has been identified that the company is prominent for its involvement in numerous lawsuits and has been involved in numerous class-action suits. In one of such incidents, Monsanto had incorrectly advertised its herbicide as being biodegradable and further asserted that it left the soil clean. The event happened in the year 2009 and it had to pay a fine of 15000 Euros (BBC, 2009). It has also been identified that the senior manager of Monsanto ordered one of the consulting firms which is in Indonesia to offer a bribe of $50000 to a top bureaucrat working with environment ministry of Indonesia in the year 2002. Therefore, in this regard, Monsanto had to pay a fine of $1.5m (BBC, 2009). Risk Management Strategies Companies often face with lawsuits as they tend to violate the governments’ requirements or tend to break the criminal laws. Once the companies have identified the risks, it becomes significant to minimize the risks and thus manage them to a greater extent. The company needs to ensure that there is better supervision and therefore there must be clear communication of the policies. The key to reduce the risks of workplace related lawsuits is to be proactive. It becomes significant for the companies to execute policies and trainings which are designed to avoid the lawsuits (Pakroo & Pakroo, 2011). Risk management can be identified as a procedure meant to prevent any sort of physical, financial and time loss in an organization (Chan, 2010). Monsanto should not have advertised wrongly since doing so not only leads to lawsuits but also ruins the reputation of the company. The company could have ensured that the staffs are made aware of the problems of such illegal activities and therefore should have provided the staffs with proper information on risks and consequences of such illegal activities. Such risks could have as well been avoided if Monsanto was capable of identifying the critical point in the business processes where such illegal activities are likely to occur. The company could as well designate internal structures so that the staffs can report problems, risks and people those are suspected with such activities. If all these strategies were adopted by Monsanto previously, then lawsuits could have avoided. Ethical Considerations Reflected In the Laws Applicable To This Case The case is related to fraudulent trade practices and bribery. Therefore, the laws related to these two illegal trade practices need to be considered. The ethics and anti-bribery rules try to raise the problems of ethical and moral attitude towards both bribery and corruption. In the ethical considerations related in the laws, offering bribes is as offensive as receiving it (Sosnow & Narayanan, n.d.). According to US law of deceptive advertisement, it is unethical if any company communicates a deceptive claim to 20-25 percent or greater than this amount of the target audience. Deceptive advertising is considered as wrong since it harms competitors, consumers as well as society as a whole. Deceptive advertisement is considered as wrong since the person practicing it tends to violate the need of morality (Carson, 2002). Sources of Law The cases are related to bribery and deceptive advertising practices. Therefore, bribery law of US has been demonstrated under 18 U.S. C. § 201 (United States Office of Government Ethics, 2011). It has been found that both the state and federal laws are responsible to regulate deceptive advertising. It is the Lanham Trademark Act that controls false advertising at the federal level. The Federal Trade Commission and state consumer protection agencies are mainly accountable to review, regulate and when required, to remove deceptive advertising (Hoekman, 1995). It is quite significant for the management of Monsanto to have adequate knowledge of the American Law so that they can avoid such events from occurring in the near future. The employees must be made aware of the various laws and therefore it is also necessary for the management to take suitable actions when such illegal actions are suspected in the organization. If the management leverages the knowledge of various sources of law, then they will be capable of promoting trust and there will be efficient collaboration among the parties. By having proper knowledge of the laws, the management will be capable of enhancing the competition in both domestic as well as international markets (Hoekman, 1995). Pursuing Alternative Resolutions Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) techniques are generally understood as the process of settling disputes outside the courtroom (Cornell University Law School, 2011). There are more than twenty numerous alternative dispute resolution techniques in the United States for settling disputes (Nosyreva, 2010). Whenever, there is any dispute in an organization, it becomes significant for the organization to decide if it would like to have dispute settled by means of court litigations or by means of ADR methods. Through ADR, the companies can avail quick and relatively cheap resolutions to their problems (Harvard Universities, n.d.). It can be mentioned that Monsanto could have made use of alternative dispute resolution techniques which are considered as suitable alternatives to litigations. In cases of bribery as well as deceptive advertising, the parties require resolutions as soon as possible. It can be mentioned that both the cases of lawsuits faced by Monsanto involve technical subject matter problems which are generally quite difficult for jury to comprehend fully. In such cases, the parties may select a neutral arbiter who may have proper knowledge and background of the issues that the company is facing. If Monsanto relies on such experts, then the company will be capable of streamlining the dispute resolution procedures. It also provides the parities with crucial control over the expenses of money and saves time as well (Blackman & McNeill, 1984). References BBC. (2009). Monsanto guilty in false ad row. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8308903.stm BBC. (2009). The US agrochemical giant Monsanto has agreed to pay a $1.5m (?799,000) fine for bribing an Indonesian official. Retrieved from http://forbetter-id.blogspot.com/2009/04/us-agrochemical-giant-monsanto-has.html Blackman, S. H. & McNeill, R. M. (1984). Alternative dispute resolution in commercial intellectual property disputes. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1415&context=aulr&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.in%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dalternative%2520dispute%2520resolution%2520methods%2520in%2520usa%2520for%2520fraud%2520trade%2520practices%2520site%253Aedu%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D3%26ved%3D0CDIQFjAC%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fdigitalcommons.wcl.american.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1415%2526context%253Daulr%26ei%3DhR-yTq2oCsfnrAe278Bv%26usg%3DAFQjCNHrThXU4rfisb30ksrI_V71vWcg-w#search=%22alternative%20dispute%20resolution%20methods%20usa%20fraud%20trade%20practices%20site%3Aedu%22 Chan, S. (2010). Practical and critical legal concerns for spot medicines physicians and athletic trainers. Retrieved from http://thesportdigest.com/archive/article/practical-and-critical-legal-concerns-sport-medicine-physicians-and-athletic-trainers Carson, T. L. (2002). Ethical issues in selling and advertising. Retrieved from http://orion.it.luc.edu/~tcarson/bowie.pdf Cornell University Law School. (2011). Alternative dispute resolution. Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/alternative_dispute_resolution GM Watch. (n.d.). Monsanto: a history. Retrieved from http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-firms/10595-monsanto-a-history Hoekman, B. M. (1995). Trade laws and institutions: good practices and the World Trade Organization, Parts 63-282. United Sates: World Bank Publication. Harvard Universities. (n.d.). Disputes. Retrieved from http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/olds/ecommerce/disputestext.html Nosyreva, E. (2010). Alternative dispute resolution in the United States and Russia: a comparative evaluation. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1057&context=annlsurvey&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.in%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dalternative%2520dispute%2520resolution%2520methods%2520in%2520usa%2520site%253Aedu%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D2%26ved%3D0CCoQFjAB%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fdigitalcommons.law.ggu.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1057%2526context%253Dannlsurvey%26ei%3DNh-yTvG-DcLprAec-JRt%26usg%3DAFQjCNFVDW58fXOoG15CUYfyXhU-kj3PPw#search=%22alternative%20dispute%20resolution%20methods%20usa%20site%3Aedu%22 Pakroo, P. H., & Pakroo, P. (2011). Starting & building a nonprofit: a practical guide. United States: Nolo. Sosnow, C. & Narayanan, P. (n.d.). Balancing act – anti-bribery laws in international business. Retrieved from http://www.ethicscentre.ca/EN/events/Balancing%20Act%20-%20Anti-Bribery%20Laws%20in%20International%20Business.pdf United States Office of Government Ethics, (2011). Bribery. Retrieved from http://www.usoge.gov/Topics/Gifts-and-Payments/Bribery/ Read More