Hospitality Operations Law HFT3603 Lecture Notes What is the law Form of social control Body of rules in whcih people must conform their conduct to Set of rules in which judges use to determine cases judges look at Precedent make rulings on prior law Hospitality laws Helping patrons out and making sure business are paid their money safe place for their patrons but the patrons have the pay their money if have those 2 things everyone is happy without one the business is suing or the patrons are complaining and maybe suing Started out in History between hotel and the patron did the people that ran the hotel helped the patrons out The hotel tried to steal from the patrons they would have people stay in their rooms and they would steal from their guests 4 Sources of Law 1 Constitution delegates a lot of powers so look to that very broad and very little detail so lawyers can come in and interpret for what they think it meant to intent In hospitality law there is the Commerce Law in constitution interstate commerce any business product or anything that goes from one state to the next think of interstate highway Legislative process in the constitution where Congress makes laws FEDERAL laws Precedent Judges try to rule on precedent when go in front of judge you have to rule with other cases from the past so use those that most fit your own case Appellate cases not a lot of new facts involved cites other cases and reason judge is making decision is because of other cases like it Local boards County and City Commission 2 Statutory Statute Law Made by house of representatives and State Senate of Florida may require hotels to maintain guest registers set sanitation requirements for bed linens and food preparation safety devices at swimming facilities look at Florida law first before they look at another states law State laws Senate in FL in House of Representatives and they come down with their own laws Statute books can find any law you want and see if breaking law or not ugly tomatoes not round found at publix and law says you cant send them out of florida if they are not round Louisiana state law doesn t follow common law is on the Napoleonic Code follows French and Spanish code bar is tested different 21 hours noone wants to practice there unless you went to law school there 3 Common Law the one we use is from Britain decisions of judges from customs and practices that obtained their authority from the test of time think of how they have done it forever what most people did judges try to follow it throughout time they want UNIFORMITY in the law but at some point society changes and the common law will change so you will see different circuits Case Plessey vs Ferguson Equality in Education Separate but Equal at the time thought they made a lot of head way Case Brown vs Board of Education Separate but Equal is not consistent with Equal Protection laws how law changes over time Courts have to see differences between the statute and the constitution A state may say one thing but the constitution may say something else See case below Case Roe vs Wade Abortion state statute that prohibited doctor from performing abortions and overturned because supreme court justices said the people had the right to privacy and that abortions could be performed Shall means YOU MUST do something 4 Administrative Law agencies that set their own laws they can be councils services departments agencies FCC regulate TVs can have hearings in front of these organizations OSHA safe in work etc Federal Court vs State Court Systems A lot of firms won t do one or the other because the rules filing is different State Law Small claims court criminal court civil court CRIMINAL COURT prosecutor represents the state State of FL Versus the defendant you you will be punished put on probation Prosecutors are from the state attorney s office You hire your own attorney unless there is a chance you may go to jail and they will give you a public defender Civil Court no one is going to jail for going to civil court going after damages Small Claims Court 5 000 and under County Court under 15 000 Circuit Civil Court over 15 000 Circuit contains Family law Divorce cases etc Attorneys 275 375 an hour on each case makes people think of their next move Pro bono doing free work in FL lawyers are required to do it for 2o hours people show up and lawyer hears case and tries to figure it out for them Misdemeanors under 21 and caught drinking can go to jail for a year not going to prison but will go to jail petty theft shop lifting 1st DUI Felonies Can be sent to prison and sentenced for over a year Federal Court Falls under Federal Law Diversity of citizenship I m from FL suing you in Michigan so we have to go to Federal Court BOTH federal and state have lower courts TV shows if lose their you appeal and becomes appellate case and either go to state or federal lose again Supreme Court of FL lose again Supreme Court of USA Examples of Civil Law especially in hospitality Contracts agreement between 2 parties enforceable if 1 party breaches it you can sue them for damages or sue them for specific performance food contracts entertainment contracts room contracts someone didn t pay tort Tort violation of a legal duty by one person who causes injury to another will see either Tort or Contracts a lot big one in hospitality is Negligence Negligence breach of a legal duty to act reasonable or reasonably carelessness broken railings slip and falls at grocery stores Specific performance I don t want money for the damages I want you to perform do something Walmart is sued more than any other company Trademark infringement someone trying to steal McDonalds sign have to submit trademark if someone tries to use it you can sue them takes a long time to go through to make sure it doesn t look a lot like someone elses trademark 1 15 2013 Different kinds of Civil Law Suits in Hospitality Industry Trademark Infringement Use of a name or logo without permission Clothing line for Camo Clothing had to come up with logo send to federal trade commission have to approve it have to run against every other logo out there if someone else tries to use it in the meantime they can bring them up for infringement Fraud Intentional untruthful statement made to induce reliance by another person Ex Say you have a golf course at hotel and you get to hotel and there is a shuttle to a golf course Damages in civil cases figure out how much money you are going after in your law suit