Risk Management and Agency Law
This week, the assignment is for you to be a little creative and apply some of the legal concepts from our readings to two fact patterns.
Fact Pattern#1
Imagine you are the attorney (or advisor) for the owner of the golf court in the fact pattern below. Your assigning attorney hands you two documents dealing with risk management in sports and then asks you to provide your client with advice on which of the following courses of action used in risk management described in your text (Retention, Treatment, Transfer, and Avoidance) is best suited to the following scenario:
A golf course is owned and maintained by Little Jimmy, who is a long-time resident of Birmingham, Alabama and is concerned about its liability but wants to keep the beauty of his golf course as a paramount feature. However, over the past ten years, Birmingham, Alabama has experienced a tremendous amount of growth. Thousands of new residents have moved into town and traffic around the course is becoming denser. The course has 6 of its 18 holes either adjacent or adjacent and “perpendicular” to the streets with less than 100 yards from the middle of the fairway to the street.
Lately the club has received complaints about cars, and potentially people, being hit by errant shots. The course had been on notice of some shots leaving the erected nets along the areas most likely for shots to go out of bounds. However as equipment has changed, more balls are getting hit over the nets. Moreover, the increase in traffic and cars is escalating the numbers of accidents per year. Additionally, several customers have complained about the barrier nets. According to some customer complaints, the barrier nets are not very attractive.
What is the best risk management action to take and why? Please remember to conduct research and list your references.
Below are the two documents that your assigning attorney handed you while assigning this client matter to you:
RISK MANAGEMENT GUIDE FOR COMMUNITY SPORT ORGANIZATIONS
Sport Safety and Risk Management for Coaches
Fact Pattern #2
Assume you are a young and aspiring attorney. One day, a young fellow named James Varney enters your office looking for legal advice. James Varney is 21 years old and recently graduated from college. James states that he would like advice on how to become a sports agent and the basics of agency law. He asked you how he can become a sports agent and what are the different types of agency. Because James Varney seems like an eager, but clueless fellow, please write up a short paragraph or two on how he should proceed with his career and the possible pitfalls of agency law.
