Tort and Regulatory Risk

Tort and Regulatory Risk

Background:

- Alumina is a very successful aluminum manufacturer with a very strong leadership team.

-Five years ago the company had a mishap which caused some publicity but since then the company has been in compliance.

- Kelly Bates has blamed Alumina for her daughter's sickness.

Duty-Alumina had the duty to provide save environment to the public in which the standard care is not to pollute the environment.

Breach of duty- the company did not meet the EPA standard compliance because PAH concentration in test samples was above the prescribed limit.

Cause of injury-Alumina contaminated the water with carcinogenic and as a result Bites' daughter got sick from drinking the water.

Proximate cause-consumption of the contaminated water is the proximate cause.

Injury-The daughter has leukemia.

It is evident Alumina is being responsible and care about its reputation

• Alumina complied promptly –in the end environmental audit reported the violation as "corrected"

• Alumina has never willfully violated any environmental law and there is evidence documented in the yearly environmental audit report.

• Sending demanding latter was a good idea for Publicity-newspaper published retraction of sorts.

• Allowing partial release of environmental audit-because Alumina' competitive position in aluminum trade not jeopardized.

• The allegation was that consumption of the contaminated water is the proximate cause of her daughter's leukemia

Alumina has a strong leadership team and that's why the company is successful.

Recommendation:

The mediation method certainly saves the company time, money and its name. Instead of spending tons of money on experts and attorneys' Alumina was able to pay for Kelly's daughter medical and educational expenses.

Company Plan

A company can go through litigation as a result of tort liability like Alumina case. There are precautious measures that a company can takes to prevent, detect, or correct any kind of tort liability. Prevention is the most important step a company should take to avoid tort liability. Common torts and regulatory risks experience by companies are the intentional torts and negligence.

Since intentional torts are harms that result when parties commit intentional act, a company is responsible in preventing having to encounter litigation because of intentional tort. Tort law is developed in order to protect individuals or victims, so to avoid litigation, a company need to comply with rules and regulations established to protect the public. In the case of Alumina, Kelly Bites accused the company of repeatedly contaminating the water with carcinogenic and her daughter has leukemia as a result of drinking the contaminated water. The allegation was that consumption of the contaminated water is the proximate cause of her daughter's leukemia.

Five year ago Alumina was negligent because was reported to be in violation of environmental discharge norms in a routine EPA compliance evaluation inspection. Alumina was negligent because the company did not meet the EPA standard compliance because PAH concentration in test samples was above the prescribed limit. Evidently, Alumina management was being responsible and cared about their reputation because the company complied promptly by cleaning up as ordered by the EPA. Alumina has a strong leadership team because they were able to detect the possibility of Bites' allegations and they were willing to come clean by showing that Alumina has never intentionally violated any environmental law and there was evidence documented in