The USA Consumer Law - Assignment Example

Multiple choice questions: 1. Economy 2. Prohibits mental anguish damages for breach of contract 3. The consumer must report to the company within ten days 4. Four years 5. Dog 6. Let the buyer beware 7. 50, 000, 000 8. American 9. Not call a consumer once the consumer tells the debt collector that the employer does not allow such calls. 10. Lost income 11. owes more than her house is worth 12. None of the above 13. 30 days 14. Negotiation 15. Attorney’s fees 16. More than one of the above 17. Punitive damages 18. 20 days 19. Credit Card Act 20. Degree of reprehensibility of defendant’s conduct 1. True. According to the deceptive trade practices Act, goods that are received as gifts or that are paid for by another might still e considered as having been acquired by purchase. The Court arrived at this decision in the judgment on the case “Kennedy b Sale”; wherein an employee who acquired insurance that have been paid for by the employer was considered as being a consumer for all aims and purposes in the DTPA. The courts held that 1. a tenant would be considered as being a customer as to the services that had been purchased and paid for by the landlord 2. The child would be considered as a consumer for a service which had been paid for by its parent 3. A purchaser is a customer with respect to accounting services which have been paid for by the seller It is under the same analysis that one considers the son who gets gifts as toys from his father the consumer, because he has acquired goods by purchase 2. True. As a method of identity theft prevention, one would have to order and review one’s credit reports at last annually. It needs to be noted that one is entitled to one free credit repot from each of the three credit bureaus. Reviewing a credit report is a good way of detecting whether or not someone is using one’s name for the purpose of obtaining credit. The idea is to carry out a simple examination of the section of a given report that summarizes inquiries that have been made others. If one recognizes the queries then things are fine, if not, one might be the victim of identity theft. It could thus be correctly assumed that reviewing credit report is a good way of preventing identity theft. 3. False. The role of the jury is to decide facts-indeed the purpose of a trial is the resolution of disputes about facts and how the law applies to those facts; therefore; the jury considers the evidence presented at the trial and determines which facts are most likely to be true. It is the job of the judge to decide questions of law, once instructed on the law by the judge; the jury could still reach a conclusion about the proper outcome of the case based on the facts it determines to be true. For example in a case involving personal injuries caused by alleged medical malpractice, the judge would instruct the jury on elements of negligence-duty and breach- and the jury would need to decide what actions the doctor took and whether these constituted a breach at all. the idea therefore is that the judge and the jury must together consider and decide the two aspects of a legal proceeding, facts and law to reach a just result. 4. Proximate cause is a major element in the case of any negligence action. The plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant’s conduct proximately caused the plaintiff’s injuries. The issue is decided on two parts. First, it must be shown that the injuries were the result of the conduct as a matter of factual occurrence, also known as course of fact. Second it must be shown that the injuries were caused by the conduct as a matter of law commonly known as the legal cause. 5. False. E-commerce payments ate mostly accomplished with credit cards. There are, however a few cases for which credit cards do not seem practical. Online payments with credit cards could a risky proposition. There are those that find that when the credit card statement comes, many entries have been made without their consent or even their knowledge at all. credit card fraud could be a threat to both e-merchants and e-shoppers alike, more than ten million US citizens do not have credit cards and this was in fact one the main reasons they had for not doing business online.. the idea therefore is that users want more options for online payments. Merchants should offer a number of payment options for consumers given the fact that convenience is one of the basic criterion for success. 6. Though very often not a lot of thought is given to the issue of high costs when signing finance contracts, arbitration is a two-way street that provides real benefits to consumers. For those consumers with real (or even merely perceived) grievances against lenders, arbitration provides a forum in which they can litigate their claims much more quickly and cheaply than in court. Like a lot of judges it is required that arbitrators be disinterested parties without any vest interests thereby having no biases in favor of or against the customer consumers. In short, for the consumer, arbitration has all of the advantages and none of the disadvantages of court, and it has the added advantage of being quicker and cheaper overall. The Court held only that the mere possibility of excessive costs was insufficient to invalidate an agreement to arbitrate.  7. According to s402A, there is a special liability of the seller of product for physical harm or user or consumer. One who sellers any product in a defective condition, unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer or to his property is subject to liability for physical harm thereby caused to the ultimate user or consumer or to his property; if the seller is engaged in the business of selling such a product and it is expected to and does reach the user or consumer without substantial change in the condition in which it is sold. The rule stayed in subsection (1) is applicable although the seller has exercised all possible care in the preparation and sale of his product and the user or consumer has not bought the product from or entered into any contractual relations with the seller. 8. Consumers are allowed to order a free credit report from each of the three major credit reporting companies every year. Consumers can order their free annual credit reports by mail, by telephone, or online.  To maximize your protection against fraudulent activity, order one report from a different company every fourth month. One needs to understand the fact that the only manner in which a credit report could be obtained is through ordering them, and this an annual affair. The idea here is that these reports are free. These are the only ways to get free credit reports without any strings attached.  The "free" credit reports advertised by other sources are not really free. Thus there is no consumer right to get credit report monthly for free. 9. Under S52 of the Trade Practices Act, 1974 the act clearly intends the protection of consumers by prohibiting corporations in trade or commerce in taking steps that are misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive. S52 defines misleading or deceptive conduct as follows (1)  “A corporation shall not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive or is likely to mislead or deceive. Nothing in the succeeding provisions of this Division shall be taken as limiting by implication the generality of subsection (1). 10. False. The meaning of UDAP is unfair and deceptive acts and practices. This is a proposal for banking regulation in the United States under Federal Reserve Regulation. The proposal was announced on the back of the collapse of Lehmann Bothers and the onset of the global economic crisis. It was announced by the Board of governors of the Federal Reserve System on Saturday, May 2, 2008 that the proposed rules, "prohibit unfair practices regarding credit cards and overdraft services that would, among other provisions, protect consumers from unexpected increases in the rate charged on pre-existing credit card balances." References: Arata, M. J., (2010). Identity Theft For Dummies. For Dummies Publicatipn. Pp30-32 Thanasankit, T., (2003). E-commerce and cultural values. Idea Group Inc (IGI) Publishing. p223 Jennings, M., (2005). Business: its legal, ethical, and global environment. Cengage Learning. p431 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (2008). Retrieved August 13, 2010, Jenkins, J. A., (2009). The American Courts: A Procedural Approach. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p236   Read More