Discuss Whether the Principal Is Liable in Each of the Following

Essay

Discuss whether the principal is liable in each of the following situations. Explain your answer.
a. Andrew hires Patricia, an attorney, to negotiate a contract to purchase some property. He agrees to pay her $75 an hour for her services, and she agrees to use her own office and secretarial staff to negotiate and draft the agreement. One day, Patricia is driving her own automobile to a meeting with Edward to discuss the purchase of the land that he owns. Patricia drives too fast for conditions and has a minor traffic accident that results in $600 damage to the other vehicle.
b.George owns a retail store. He hires Carolina to work for him as a salesclerk in the small appliance department. George instructs Carolina to make certain representations to customers regarding a microwave oven, which Carolina sells. George knows these misrepresentations are false, but Carolina does not. Henrietta buys a microwave in reliance on the misrepresentations.
c.George owns a retail store. He hires Carolina to work for him as a salesclerk. George doesn't specifically tell Carolina to make misrepresentations, but he gives ambiguous instructions to her that led her to believe she should make such misrepresentations. Henrietta buys a microwave based upon the mistaken information conveyed to her by Carolina.
d.Megaborne Corporation hires Ed as an outside salesman and instructs him to call on customers in a specified territory and to solicit orders for their products. One day Ed is driving the company car to call on a client. He accidentally drives the wrong way on a one-way street and has an accident with another vehicle that results in $6,000 in property damage and $30,000 in medical expenses.
e.The Advanced Business Machines Company (ABMC) hires John as an outside salesman for its computers. It sets high sales quotas for him and instructs him to beat up salesmen from competing firms in order to keep them away from ABMC customers. In order to meet his monthly sales quota, John roughs up Ralph, who is a salesman for a competing firm and then tells Ralph to find his own customers and to stay away from John's territory.