Karl A. Boedecker

University of San Francisco | USFCA · Department of Economics, Business Law and International Business

This critical incident presents a decision faced by the head of a law firm after he obtains evidence suggesting the firm environment may not be gender neutral: should he or should he not recommend to his Board that the firm engage all attorneys in an open examination of bias in the workplace. Investigation is motivated by the local bar association...

This critical incident presents a decision faced by the head of a law firm after he obtains evidence suggesting the firm environment may not be gender neutral: should he or should he not recommend to his Board that the firm engage all attorneys in an open examination of bias in the workplace. Investigation is motivated by the local bar association...

Merle Richards took another long sip of black coffee and continued rubbing his brow. Merle and his old friend Jim Townshend had started the firm over 20 years ago with a pledge to treat the business like a growing family and to have “zero tolerance for jerks.” The challenges they had faced early on had mainly consisted of tough cases and learning t...

The United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission lifted prohibitions against direct contributions to political campaigns on the grounds that First Amendment free speech protections for political speech extended to for-profit corporations. The majority opinion, however, did so without explicit reference to any legal...

Significant increases in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement activities have heightened the legal risks associated with giving gifts or paying travel and entertainment expenses for U.S. firms when promoting their goods or services in foreign markets. This change in the external environment necessitates appropriate strategic adjustments and ma...

Marketing efforts designed to promote increased product consumption by encouraging consumers to use more of the products may cause consumers to use products beyond a safe limit. When courts find that such overuse is foreseeable by the marketer, a person who incurs injuries resulting from this overuse can often recover damages from the marketer. Thi...

The authors explicitly consider the public policy issues related to the question of post-sale warnings and offer suggestions on how marketers should handle these issues.

The U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in BMW v. Gore (1996) in May. This decision triggered another round of discussions regarding restraints on punitive damages as a part of the overall reform of the U.S. tort system. Here, the authors review the BMW decision and its immediate predecessors to illustrate the essential public policy issues...

Since the Greenman v. Yuba Power Products case in 1963, strict liability has been a part of the U.S. product liability framework. Over the years, strict liability has been increasingly applied to marketing practices and institutions. This article reviews such developments and highlights the reasons for them.

During the past 15 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has used Central Hudson Gas v. Public Service Commission (1980) to expand significantly the power of the government at ail levels to regulate advertising and other promotional activities. As a result, first amendment protection for commercial speech has steadily diminished. In this article, Supreme C...

During the past 15 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has used Central Hudson Gas v. Public Service Commission (1980) to expand significantly the power of the government at all levels to regulate advertising and other promotional activities. As a result, first amendment protection for commercial speech has steadily diminished. In this article, Supreme C...

Marketers of used products face uncertainty in the legal environment because of the inconsistent ways their offerings are treated with respect to strict product liability. The authors analyze the conceptual underpinnings of strict liability to assess its applicability to used goods. Then they examine litigated cases to present an overview of curren...

Marketing efforts designed to promote increased product consumption by encouraging consumers to use more of the product per occasion may cause consumers to use products beyond a safe limit. When courts find that such overuse is foreseeable by the marketer, a person who incurs injuries resulting from this overuse can often recover damages from the m...

Salespeople can generate liability problems for their organizations through both intentional and inadvertent statements, yet the sales management and personal selling literature has not provided adequate discussion of these problems. The authors describe the various ways salespeople initiate such liability and include specific advice for sales mana...

Salespeople can generate liability problems for their organizations through both intentional and inadvertent statements, yet the sales management and personal selling literature has not provided adequate discussion of these problems. The authors describe the various ways salespeople initiate such liability and include specific advice for sales mana...

Market share liability is the most recent product liability development in the area of intra-industry joint liability, in which all members of an industry are sued. The various intra-industry approaches by which a consumer can recover for injuries are reviewed in this article, and their implications for marketing are examined.

The significant cases in which salespersons' statements or actions have resulted in their companies being found liable for product-related injuries are reviewed. The implications of these cases for selling and sales management are presented.

The focus of this discussion is on the usefulness of consumer research data in products liability lawsuits. With the number of products liability cases increasing each year (Johnson, 1978; Business Week, 1979), firms are more likely than ever before to be involved in such litigation. To the extent that marketing plays a role in such suits, the impa...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Marketing and Transportation Administration, 1974. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-152).