Business Midterm Page 1

5 Written Questions

1. Issue was whether or not the 1914 Clayton Act exempted labor unions from antitrust laws. Court said that the union was engaging in a secondary boycott and held that secondary boycotts were not legal therefore the union could be stopped.
2. Court struck down a state law prohibiting employment agencies from charging fees
3. Court upheld a government agencies authority to insist that factories and power plants use the best available anti-pollution technology and to block construction of those that do not.
4. Case involving the rights of states versus the rights of corporations. A state can refuse to let an out-of-state corporation conduct business within its borders or it could let them do business there but with restrictions. Unless a state specifically forbade an out-of-state corporation from doing business within its borders it had to be allowed to do so.
5. Court overturned a company's conviction for obstruction because the trial judge's instructions to the jury failed to require the necessary proof that Andersen knew its actions were wrong and thus the hurdle was too low for the jury to reach a guilty verdict - only those conscious of wrongdoing can be said to violate the law.

5 Matching Questions

1. Bedford Cut Stone Company v Journeyman Stone Cutters Association
2. DeBartolo v Florida Gulf Trades Council
3. American Telephone and Telegraph Company v Iowa Utilities Board
4. Dastar Corporation v Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
5. BP American Production Co. v Burton

1. a Interpreted a section of the National Labor Relations Act so as to permit a union to peacefully distribute handbills to persons entering a shopping mall... There was no coercion of customers and if customers chose not to shop because of the handbills it was merely the result of good persuasion.
2. b Court refused to limit the number of years the government can reach back to collect unpaid royalties for leases on federal land.
3. c Court upheld the use of an injunction to stop the strike saying that a secondary boycott was involved and that the strike imposed a burden on interstate commerce.
4. d Court said that a video company cannot be sued under a trademark law for reusing old war documentary footage without giving the film company credit.
5. e Yes. In a complicated split opinion, the Court held that the FCC has rulemaking authority to uphold those provision of the Act in question. Despite the local nature of some of the LECs involved, the Court emphasized their interconnectivity with regional and national carriers. As such, the FCC could also reach local LEC markets and regulate their competitive business practices. Such regulatory authority would include the ability to tell LECs what portions of their services they had to share with new competitors, allow new competitors to use local networks without having to own them, and forbid incumbent LECs from separating their network elements before leasing them to competitors.

5 Multiple Choice Questions

1. Case involving yellow-dog contracts - court struck down the law as violative of both the liberty and property aspects of the due process clause of the 14th amendment with liberty again being construed as liberty of contract - the ability of both sides to bargain a contract without governmental interference.
   1. Coppage v Kansas
   2. Bilski v Kappos
   3. Allgeyer v Lousiana
   4. Adams v Tanner
2. Court dismissed a class action antitrust suit against three former regional companies that control nearly all the country's local telephone service.
   1. Coppage v Kansas
   2. Bank of Augusta v Earle
   3. Bell Atlantic Corporation v Twombly
   4. BP American Production Co. v Burton
3. Court upheld a state law that barred unions from spending nonmembers' fees on political activity without first receiving their permission. This "opt in" rule is the opposite of the usual "opt out" practice in which the non members must be given a chance to say no to that use of their fees.
   1. Davenport v Washington Education Association
   2. Cuomo v Clearing House Association, L.L.C.
   3. BP American Production Co. v Burton
   4. Arthur Andersen v United States
4. Struck down a billion dollar class action settlement dealing with asbestos as violating the Rules of Civil Procedure. People that was or some day may be adversely affected by past exposure = too sprawling a group to be represent in a single class-action suit. Although the parties to the settlement tried to find all future possible claimants, it cannot be done.
   1. Coppage v Kansas
   2. Adams v Tanner
   3. Amchem Products, Inc. v Windsor
   4. BP American Production Co. v Burton
5. Court struck down a state law which said persons not directly involved in the labor dispute could not picket - court held that picketing was a form of speech and thus available for all people, not just those immediately involved in the controversy
   1. American Federation of Labor v Swing
   2. Allgeyer v Lousiana
   3. BP American Production Co. v Burton
   4. Central Laborers Pension Fund v Heinz

5 True/False Questions

1. Cuomo v Clearing House Association, L.L.C. → Court allowed a state to enforce fair-lending laws and other consumer protection measures against national banks that have branches in that state. Court said that rules issued by federal regulators could not block or pre-empt efforts by states to enforce their laws.

   True        False

2. Ashwander v Tennessee valley Authority → Court overturned a company's conviction for obstruction because the trial judge's instructions to the jury failed to require the necessary proof that Andersen knew its actions were wrong and thus the hurdle was too low for the jury to reach a guilty verdict - only those conscious of wrongdoing can be said to violate the law.

   True        False

3. Coeur Alaska, Inc. v Northeast Alaska Conservation Council → Court upheld a government agencies authority to insist that factories and power plants use the best available anti-pollution technology and to block construction of those that do not.

   True        False

4. California Dental Association v Federal Trade Commission → Court upheld a state law that barred unions from spending nonmembers' fees on political activity without first receiving their permission. This "opt in" rule is the opposite of the usual "opt out" practice in which the non members must be given a chance to say no to that use of their fees.

   True        False

5. Amoco Production Company v Southern Ute Indian Tribe → Court refused to limit the number of years the government can reach back to collect unpaid royalties for leases on federal land.

   True        False