Business Law - Final Exam Questions with Complete Answers, A+

negligence - failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise in similar circumstances (also known as the "reasonable person" standard) proximate cause - legal determination that the connection between an act or omission and a resulting injury (causation in fact) is strong enough to impose liability foreseeability - for a defendant to be liable for negligence under common law tort, the type of harm caused by the negligence must have been reasonably foreseeable damages - monetary compensation that is awarded by a court in a civil action to a party who has been injured through the wrongful conduct of another party res ipsa loquitur - a doctrine of tort law under which a defendant may be deemed negligent if the facts indicate that the defendant had control over the thing that caused the harm, the injury would not have occurred without negligence, and the plaintiff played no role in causing the injury (Latin for "The thing speaks for itself.") principal - in an agency relationship, the person for whom an agent is acting agent - in an agency relationship, one who acts on behalf of a principal apparent authority - a principal can be liable for the acts of an agent who is not, in fact acting with authority if the principal's conduct causes a third party reasonably to believe that the agent has the authority to act ratification - if a principal accepts the benefit of an unauthorized transaction by an agent or fails to repudiate it, then the principal is bound by the act as if he or she had authorized it respondeat superior - a doctrine under which a principal is held liable for wrongful acts committed by an agent acting within the scope of the agent's engagement (Latin for "Let the master answer.") at will employment - a common law doctrine under which either party may terminate an employment relationship for an unspecified term at any time with or without reason unless a contract specifies otherwise independent contractor - someone hired to perform work under a contract while retaining control over the means and methods by which the work is accomplished; the person who hires the worker expects to pay for the completed work but has no control over how the worker gets it done disparate impact - discrimination that occurs when an employer's practices or procedures have an adverse impact that disproportionately affects members of a protected class, even though the intent of those practices or procedures may be nondiscriminatory constructive discharge - a termination of employment brought about by making the employee's working conditions so intolerable that the employee reasonably feels compelled to leave bona fide occupational qualification - an identifiable characteristic reasonably necessary to the normal operation of a particular business copyright - the exclusive right of an author or originator of a literary or artistic production to publish, print, sell, or otherwise use that production for a statutory period. Protects the way an idea is expressed, but not the idea itself trademark - any distinctive word, symbol, or design that a business uses to identify itself as the source of its products or services and to distinguish them from those made or sold by others patent - a property right granted by the federal government that gives inventors an exclusive right to make, use, sell, or offer to sell their inventions in the United States for a specified period, during which time no one else may make, use, sell or offer to sell the invention without the inventor's permission