Titanic Case Analysis free essay sample

Titanic Case Analysis Estate of Hans Jensen vs. The White Star Line Facts: The White Star Line was owner of the Titanic, which was the largest and most luxurious ship in the world at the time. On April 10th, 1912, the Titanic left from Southampton, England with 2,227 passengers aboard bound for New York City. On April 14th, the ship struck an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland and sank about 2 ? hours later. Passengers, mostly women and children, were loaded into lifeboats, however only 705 passengers survived as many lifeboats left partially full. Hans Peder Jensen and his fiance Carla Christine Jensen were passengers from Denmark on the Titanic. Hans Jensen was a carpenter and they had planned to settle in Portland, Oregon after arriving in the US. Hans Jensen did not survive and his body was never recovered. Carla Jensen was on lifeboat 16 and was rescued by Carpathia few hours after Titanic sank. We will write a custom essay sample on Titanic Case Analysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Before Hans and Carla left, they have signed a will, which designated Carla as Hans’s sole heir and executor of his estate. Carla Jensen filed a lawsuit on behalf of Hans Jensen Estate against White Star Lines for the death of his fiance. Carla sued White Star Lines because the ship had struck the iceberg even though other ships had sent ice warning messages, which in turn caused death of her fiance. Carla’s dream of settling in the US and start a new life with Hans was shattered. The story of what actually happened to Hans Jensen the night that Titanic sank was mostly true, even though there are some conflicting accounts by the witnesses. According to Carla Jensen’s information provided to her attorney, Hans Jensen was helping loading passengers into lifeboats when she last saw him. Second Office Lightoller, who was in charge of evacuating the passengers, provided his recollection of what happened that night. Lightoller had talked to Hans while he was helping loading the passengers and saw him getting into the collapsible Lifeboat D. However, when more women and children came, Lightoller asked others to make room and Jensen jumped out of the lifeboat. While the lifeboat was lowered into the water, two men jumped into the boat from another deck, but then he did not see Jensen again. Lieutenant Mauritz Bjornstrom Steffansson, another witness and one of the two men that jumped into Lifeboat D, however had a slightly different version of the story. He claimed that Jensen was actually drunk and was interfering with officers performing their duties, but he did keep the crowd away. Steffansson also said that he last saw Jensen when he got out of the lifeboat. Therefore, both witnesses stated that Hans Jensen voluntarily gave up his seat on the lifeboat and that was the last time anyone has seen him. Negligence: Hans Jensen Estate sued White Star Line claiming White Star was grossly negligent in its operation of the Titanic, resulting in death of over 1,500 passengers, including Hans Jensen. Compensation sought by the plaintiff was for emotional, physical, and financial loss suffered by Hans Jensen and Carla Jensen. The compensation claimed was for: 1) Hans Jensen’s death, 2) the physical injuries and suffering he had to endure as he was frozen to death, 3) the anguish Jensen would have felt knowing that he was going to die, and 4) financial loss of wages he would have earned as a skilled carpenter. In order to claim negligence, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff, the defendant had breached the duty, the plaintiff had suffered a legally recognizable injury, and the injury was caused by the defendant’s breach. According to tort law, the duty of care is measured by the reasonable person standard, which is normally defined as what a person with ordinary care would do or not do under similar circumstances. Once defendant is determined to have breached the duty of care, the plaintiff must prove he or she had suffered some kind of loss, harm, wrong, or invasion of protected interest. Another important element is whether there is causation between the breach of duty and the plaintiff’s injury. The first element of negligence is duty of care. According to the plaintiff, White Star Line, which owns and operates Titanic, owes a duty of care to all of the passengers on the ship. All of the passengers relied upon White Star Line to take them to New York safely. Therefore, the crew on Titanic owed duty of care to not only provide food and comfort, but more importantly safety to the passengers. Breach of duty occurs when defendant’s action has created risk of harm to others. In this case, the plaintiff believes that the crew of the Titanic behaved in unreasonable manner in many ways. The actions of the crew members resulted in the Titanic struck a large iceberg and eventually sank causing large casualties, so the duty of care was breached. Whether the breach of duty has caused the plaintiff’s injury is the third element of negligence. Requirements for causation are causation in fact and proximate cause. Causation in fact is determined by the â€Å"but for† test, which means if it was not for the defendant’s breach of duty, harm or injury would not have occurred. Proximate cause is when the connection between the action (breach of duty) and the injury is strong enough to impose liability. Another issue that needs to be considered is foreseeability because the defendant’s action must have created a foreseeable risk of injury. In this case, the crew of Titanic was navigating the ship during the night at high rate of speed in water with iceberg, so the risk of the ship hitting an iceberg and causing casualties can be foreseen. In addition, Plaintiff has to show proof of actual damage caused by the defendant’s actions. The damages claimed in this case by the plaintiff are loss of Hans Jensen’s life, pain and suffering from freezing to death, mental anguish Hans suffered knowing he is going to die, and loss of wages as a carpenter. The plaintiff was seeking compensatory damages as well as punitive damages from the plaintiff for gross negligence in operating the Titanic, causing major loss of life. Defenses to Negligence: The three defenses to negligence are assumption of risk, superseding cause, and contributory negligence. Assumption of risk is when the plaintiff has knowingly and voluntarily enters into a risky situation. If an unforeseeable intervening event occurs that break the causal connection between a wrongful act and the injury, then the superseding cause can be used by the defendant to mitigate the liability for the injury. Finally, contributory negligence can be used as defense if the plaintiff’s own negligence had contributed to the injury. The following are the White Star Line’s defense arguments: First, White Star Line claims that Hans Jensen has voluntarily chosen to step out of Lifeboat D, while everyone that was on the lifeboat survived. Jensen did not have to leave the boat when more women came as there were still empty seats when the boat was lowered. So, the defendant argued Mr. Jensen had â€Å"assumed the risk† when he had knowledge of the risk or danger by not staying in the lifeboat. Jensen should have understood the risk and danger, but he exposed himself to that risk as he had given up the seat he occupied. Both Office Lightoller and Lieutenant Bjornstrom-Steffansson are witnesses who have interacted with Jensen and have seen Jensen getting out of the lifeboat voluntarily. In addition, White Star Lines claimed that the actions of passengers on the Titanic created superseding cause. When passengers became unruly and uncontrollable, Hans Jensen tried to control the passengers even though Office Lightoller informed him it was not necessary, as a result the lifeboat left without Jensen. Therefore, the defendant argued that the actions of passengers had caused Jensen’s death and superseded the alleged negligence on White Star Lines. Contributory negligence due to plaintiff’s own action serves as complete defense to liability for negligence. In this case, White Star Lines claimed that Jensen may have disregarded crew’s direction or was not acting in a reasonable manner at all times due to his drinking, which contributed to his death. Jensen had informed Officer Lightoller that he did have couple drinks for his birthday according to Lightoller’s testimony. Under New York law at the time, any negligence attributable to the plaintiff prevents recovering compensation from the defendant, even though the defendant may have been negligent. Conclusion: Based on the facts of this case, my verdict as a juror is in favor of the plaintiff. White Star Lines’ negligence was the cause for the death of Hans Jensen. The crew of Titanic owed duty of care to its passengers for taking them to New York safely, however that duty of care was breached when the ship had struck an iceberg and sank in the Atlantic Ocean. Titanic had received ice warnings from four other ships, but the warnings were ignored and the ship was traveling at high speed at night when the ice would not be clearly visible from a far distance. The risk of the ship hitting the iceberg could be foreseen. Also, the crew did not properly conduct the evacuation operation as many of the lifeboats left partially full. More passengers could have been saved if the lifeboats were loaded to its full capacity. If it was not for the sinking of the Titanic, Hans Jensen would not have died at such a young age of just 21 years old. The connection between the breach in duty of care and the resulting loss of life is strong enough to warrant liability. The plaintiff did suffer legally recognizable injury, both physically and emotionally, as a victim of this tragedy. Carla Jensen, who is the legal heir to her fiance’s estate, also suffered emotional distress as she has lost the person who was going to support her life financially. All four elements of negligence are present in this case, therefore White Star Lines should be deemed as liable for the death of Hans Jensen. The defendant has raised the issue of assumed risk as defense to this case. It is true that Hans Jensen had voluntarily given up the seat on the lifeboat; however he was not the only one who has gotten out of the lifeboat to make room for the women. In emergency situations, risks are not deemed to be assumed. This situation definitely qualifies as an emergency, so the assumption of risk defense cannot be applied in this case. There were empty seats left on the lifeboat, so Jensen could have jumped back into the boat. But Office Lightoller had lowered the boat before it was full, so Jensen may not have had the time or chance to get back into the lifeboat. If the crew of Titanic had properly handled the evacuation process, then the passengers would not have became uncontrollable and required Jensen’s intervention, therefore this does not qualify as superseding cause that contributed to Jensen’s death. Finally, there is no concrete evidence that Jensen was intoxicated and behaved in unreasonable manner; therefore contributory negligence cannot be applied in this situation. Based on the above analysis, White Star Lines, as owner and operator of Titanic, should compensate the Estate of Hans Jensen for the death and suffering Jensen had endured as result of this tragic incident as well as loss in wages Jensen would have earned as a carpenter in the US.

Impact of Media Technology on Learning Behavior Essay Example

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Design and produce an educational workbook and justify the design Essay

Design and produce an educational workbook and justify the design decisions - Essay Example The clinical skills of family physicians mainly involve greater understanding about the perspectives of the patients and providing the guidelines towards solving their respective problems. Family physicians are attached with their patients through emotions and thus play a decisive part in forming greater association with them. The relationship prevailing between the family physicians and the patients is central, as family physicians are observed to play roles as a communicator, collaborator and also as a professional (CFPC, 2013). In order to determine the nature of the learners with regard to the workbook deigned, it is worth mentioning that family physicians work as the resource to a particular practice such as health advocate. The roles and responsibilities of family physicians are to provide the guidelines regarding the treatment of their patients. The in-depth knowledge and skills required to be attained in order to solve any health problem for ensuring effective as well as efficient health practice. Observably, family physicians apply the knowledge of medical science and also possess certain professional attitudes that eventually result in providing better treatments to those patients who suffer from high knee pain. It will be vital to mention that family physicians always maintain a healthy relationship with their patients and also their family members in order to provide them with proper treatments and effective care related to the problem of knee pain or any other similar health issue (CFPC, 2009). The learning context based on which, the workbook has been produced, is knee pain. Knee pain is one of the major conditions, which face every people exceeding the age of 50 years. One of the major causes of knee pain is osteoarthritis. In response, acupuncture is one of the popular medicines to get relief from knee pain. Along with this medicine, exercise is also important from getting relief of the knee pain and also improving the strength

Contradictions in International Trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Contradictions in International Trade - Essay Example Market is a medium that allows trade. In the olden days trade was called barter, where people used to exchange mostly goods directly. But with the invention of money (and credit, non-physical money and paper money very much later on), trading has now become convenient and been made easier. There are many reasons why trade exists. People trade for other products because of specialization and division of labor, concentrating on small factors of production. Another, different regions have a relative advantage in terms of producing of some exchangeable products. Mass production is allowed owing to the regions' size. That's why both locations benefit from trading at market prices. Trading could also be applied to the action done by the traders and agents in the stock markets. (Bond, E. W., and Syropoulos C., 1996) In the prehistoric times, trade began with the advent of communication. People there bartered goods and services from each other. In the Egyptian times, materials used for making jewerly had been bartered since 3000 BCE. (Wikipedia contributors 2006) A financially lucrative commerce began in during the Greek civilization until the fall of the Roman Empire. It brought spice to Europe to the Far East. In the Roman Empire, commerce there flourished. Instability to Western Europe and a near downfall of the trade network brought about by the downfall of the Roman Empire and the following Dark Ages. The Vikings and the Varangians made trades as they sailed to and from Scandinavia. Vasco de Gama carried on the spice trade in 1498, which became a major economic importance. Holland became a hub of free trade during the 16th century, encouraging free flow of commodities and burdening with no exchange controls. In 1776, in his paper "An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations", Adam Smith criticized Mercantilism, and debated that both country and firms could both benefit from economic specialisaton. Free trade was originated in the 19th century, and was based on national ascendancy and its self-interest to open its doors to imports. (Smith, A. 1776) John Stuart Mill argued that a nation could operate and manipulate the terms of trade (which are defined as "the ratio of the price of an export commodity/-ies to the price of an import commodity/-ies.") through keeping tariffs (Bagwell, K, Staiger R. W. 1998), and that the result to this might be repayment in trade policies. he so-called "infant industry" outlook by Mill came after and foretold the New Trade Theory which states that the state had a "responsibility" to protect young industries. This theory became the system in many countries trying to outdo English exporters. (Watson, P. 2006) The major economic recession was brought by the Great Depression throughout the 1920's-1930's, causing a great decline in trade, and others in the economic areas. The lack of free trade was viewed by many as the chief reason for the depression and the Second World War. During the war 44 nations signed the Bretton Woods Agreement, which was made to avoid national trade

Industrialization 2 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Industrialization 2 - Coursework Example These techniques included forming a consumer base and using label names, brands, and warranties. Fourth, new industries of the late 1800s also incurred social and ecological expenses and enjoyed likewise benefits. These factors of industry entailed laborsaving equipment with workers vulnerable to bodily harm and pollution. Examples of new technologies that led to the growth of industries are equipment that made steel stronger and railways. Two inventions in organization developed by corporations are downsizing and vertical incorporation and a large staff. The device of downsizing and vertical incorporation mostly applied to oil companies that made deals with railway companies for transportation benefits. This device aided in ridding the competition. The device of a large staff or the â€Å"pull factor,† involved the migration of immigrants, mostly southern African Americans, with plants. Three ways the government played a role in the rise of big business are supporting corporations by offering federal forces to reinstate order, making court rulings in favor of big businesses, and side with big businesses against worker unions. New technologies were the main difference between industries of the late 19th century and those of the pre-civil war period, organizational devices defined the operation and production of big businesses during the 1800s, and the government played major roles in the success of great businesses during the 19th

Corporate Crimes And Corporate Governance To Combat Them

Corporate Crimes And Corporate Governance To Combat Them Corporate crimes refer to criminal practices by individuals that have the legal authority to have a word for a corporation or company. These can include presidents, managers ,directors and chairman , sales people and agent or anyone within a company that has the authority to act on behalf of the firm Corporate crimes often seen to involve a very different set of dealings between offenders and victims, as there are less obvious direct harm or blood on the streets (Clarke, 1990). It appears less personal as immediate victims are often employers, the government, the public health or the environment and in many cases, such as where Safety laws are broken, causing the death or injury of employees, there is no direct intent to harm. There are also different images of the structural dimensions of victimization. To some, all citizens are victims of this kind of crime, irrespective of age, class or gender, whereas to others the crimes of the wealthy and powerful prey on the poor and powerless. Yet at the same time, victims of some financial frauds may fail to attract sympathy as they are assumed to be wealthy and to have willingly parted with their money (Shichor et al., 2000). Corporate crimes: scopes and definitions As far as scope of the crime is concern this has to be noticed that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Many victims are unaware of any harm and cannot detect it themselves as happens, for example, with some major frauds, pollution, food adulteration and descriptions of consumer goods. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Victimization is often indirect and impersonal, affecting entities such as the government although there are indirect effects on individuals tax payers, for example, have to pay more and receive fewer benefits due to tax evasion. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Individual victims may lose very little yet the illegal profits may be large as in cases in which a bank employee takes one penny out of thousands of accounts or a firm sells goods which weigh less than indicated.  [1]   This term white collar crime was coined by Edward Sutherland in his pioneering 1949 study, White Collar Crime. It describes non-violent crimes committed by corporations or individuals in the course of their business activity. Examples of criminal behaviour in most jurisdiction includes: antitrust violations ,fraud ,damage to the environment in violation of environmental legislation, exploitation of labour in violation of labour laws ,and failure to maintain a fiduciary responsibility toward shareholders. In criminology, corporate crime refers to crimes committed either by a corporation (i.e., a business entity having a separate legal personality from the natural persons that manage its activities), or by individuals that may be identified with a corporation or other business entity. Corporate Crime is criminal activity on behalf of a business organization. During much of American history the primary legal stance relating to activity of business was decidedly laissez-faire (leave it alone to do as it will). Under the influence of capitalist philosophy American Courts adopted the view that governments should not interfere with businesses by attempting to regulate it. For a long period of history victims of defective and dangerous products could not sue corporations for damages because the guiding principle was caveat emperor (let the buyer beware), and unhealthy and dangerous working conditions in mines, mills and factories were excused under the freedom of contract clause of the constitution  [2]  . Although attitudes in the 20th century changed considerably, crimes of frauds, concealment, and misrepresentation continued to victimize all sorts of groups and individuals in society. Crimes such as these are actions committed during the course of fulfilling the name of corporate profits and growth. Today as corporations have been found to be involved in environmental and health and safety law violations. In the United Kingdom, following several fatal disasters on the rail network and at sea, the term is now also commonly used in reference to corporate manslaughter. In this category would also be included the culpability of Union Carbide in the 1985 accident in Bhopal, India and the current behaviour of the pharmaceutical industry which puts profits ahead of the needs of HIV and other patients worldwide. Yet a third category of corporate crime is State-corporate crime. In a globalized world where States negotiate and conclude agreements with corporations and other international part ies or bodies, opportunities will arise for unjust enrichment and national laws will be broken. The Enron Scandal: The first major scandal of the first decade of 21st century is that Enron Corporation, which has been called one of the most intricate pieces of financial chicanery in history and for investors in its stock and its employees. The Enron sandal did tremendous damage to the company created a crisis of investors confidence the links of which has been seen since the great depression. Enron was a $100 billion corporate empire that had more then 200,000 employees in 40 countries and controlled about one quarter of all trading in natural gas and electricity in the United Status. The company poured millions of dollars into political campaign and lobbyists arguing of further deregulation of energy markets. The Enron hierarchy expected the never-ending innovation and growth from its executive to feed this monster enterprise. In response executives created imaginary markets, paper partnerships and phantom growth that enabled them to report profits that did not exist and to hide debts hat did. Executives were accomplished at cooking the financial books in many ingenious ways, which kept Enrons stock prices rising and thus their own compensation. Because much of the competition received by Enrons executives was stock based, they had major incentives to make the company look as good as possible to investors by reporting high profits. Indian Scenario There are a number of corporate crimes that have come into light now days. One of the major havoc that is created in present times is because of mysterious disappearance of corporations. Of the 5,651 companies listed on Bombay Stock exchange, 2750 have vanished. It means that one out of two companies that come to the stock exchange to raise crores of rupees from investors loot and run away. Even big names like Home Trade came up with huge publicity stunts but after raising money, vanished into the thin air. About 11 million investors have invested Rs. 10,000 crore in these 2750 companies. We have Securities Exchange Board of India, Reserve Bank of India and Department of Companies Affairs to monitor the stock exchange transactions but none has documented the whereabouts of these 2750 odd companies suspended from the stock exchange. Many of the promoters and merchant bankers who are responsible for these are roaming scotfree Court in Assistant Commissioner, Assessment-ll, Banglore Ors. v. Velliappa Textiles Ltd Anr  [3]  . took the view that since an artificial person like a company could not be physically punished to a term of imprisonment, such a section, which makes it mandatory to impose minimum term of imprisonment, cannot apply to the case of artificial person. However, Supreme Court in 2005 in Standard Charted Bank v. Directorate Of Enforcement  [4]  in majority decision of 3:2 expressly overruled the Velliapa Textiles case  [5]  on this issue. K.J Balkrishanan J. in majority opinion held We hold that there is no immunity to the companies from prosecution merely because the prosecution is in respect of offences for which punishment prescribed is mandatory imprisonment. We overrule the views expressed by the majority in Velliappa Textiles on this point There is a severe need to fight this evil of corporate crime As has been belatedly recognized in many jurisdictions, corporate crime causes far greater damage than violent street crimes. It therefore deserves more attention from the law enforcement community. According to the FBIs 2001 report, the United States reportedly lost USD17.2 billion from robbery, burglary, theft and motor-vehicle theft while the Enron fiasco alone cost investors, pensioners and employees more than three times that amount. The United Kingdom estimates that in 2004,  £78 million (USD139 million) was lost to healthcare fraud, a reduction from  £171 million (USD305 million) in 1999. In 2004, Transparency International estimated that at least USD400 billion was lost per year worldwide due to bribery in government procurement alone. However due to the scarcity of consolidated and structured statistics on corporate crime, it is impossible to determine the overall cost of corporate crime to national economies worldwide. WHERE DOES CORPORATE CRIME LIES In the Administration Improvement Act (AIA) of 1979 the U.S. Congress defined whitecollar crime as an illegal act or series of illegal acts committed by non-physical means and by concealment or guile, to obtain money or property or to obtain business or personal advantage.  [6]   But still the sworn hang by this fact that the term corporate crime is used where the offence is committed by a corporation, usually to benefit the corporation while the term white collar crime is used where the offence is committed against a corporation, usually by its own executives or employees and the corporation is the victim. As it is stated above that corporate crimes are some or how different from white-collar crimes but still in an arena Corporate crime overlaps with organized crimes and state corporate crimes along with white-collar crime à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ White-collar crime: Because the majority of individuals who may act as or represent the interests of the corporation are employees or professionals of a higher social class; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Organized crime: Because criminals can set up corporations either for the purposes of crime or as vehicles for laundering the proceeds of crime. Organized crime has become a branch of big business and is simply the illegal sector of capital. It has been estimated that, by the middle of the 1990s, the gross criminal product of organized crime made it the twentieth richest organization in the world richer than 150 sovereign states (Castells 1998: 169). The worlds gross criminal product has been estimated at 20 percent of world trade. (de Brie 2000); and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ State-corporate crime :Because, in many contexts, the opportunity to commit crime emerges from the relationship between the corporation and the state. Corporate crime encompasses embezzlement (also known as criminal breach of trust in some countries), fraud, corruption, insider trading, unfair competition, healthcare fraud, computer crime, forgery and tax evasion. The central element of these crimes being cheating and dishonesty However, it also goes beyond these traditional boundaries.  [7]   Corporate environmental crimes The term corporate environmental crime, which may be defined as any environmental crime that has been committed by any corporate body .the importance of the inquiry was to hear from a range of corporate bodies and their representatives on the present environmental criminal justice system, while at the same time recognising that an environmental sentence for a corporate body is at present limited to fine .the reason for commiting corporate environmental crimes are also varied. The crime may occur because the business concerned is ignorant of its environmental obligations. It may also occur all too often as a result of negligent behaviour ,for example ,where business are poorly managed ,staff are inadequately trained or equipment and infrastructure has not been maintained to the required standard ,allowing a pollution incident to occur. But perhaps the most depressing cause is when corporate environmental crime is the result of a deliberate and intentional illegal act ,a decision taken in the full knowledge that the act is illegal and will result in environmental crime. In our paper our main concern would be corporate environmental crimes in which we will mainly concern about the worlds worst industrial disaster and a heinous corporate crime; the leakage methyl isocyanides (MIC) and other poisonous gases from Union Carbides Bhopal, India, pesticide factory on December 3rd, 1984.which killed 8000 people in first three days and poisoned more than 500000 people and at least 120000 people remain chronically ill and also 30 people die each month from long term effect of gases even today  [8]   The question would be arisen in your mind that why we choose Bhopal disaster as specific topic for our research and view. There are several reasons behind this ; it is only matter of time before the world is shocked and sickened by another Bhopal type industrial diasater .this is because the global economic forces that led union carbide to build and operate its ill fated factory in Bhopal have not gone away they have only become stronger. The fact tha after 20 years of the Bhopal disaster ,survivors are forced to drink poisoned water ,contaminated by stockpiles of abandoned chemicals ,clearly reflects the apathy towards communities and the environment. The lessons of Bhopal are still waiting to be learened. In fact, a 1000 Bhopals are happening in slow motion across india destroying the environmental and poisoning people with impunity. Environmental disasters , both chronic and immediate , induced by irresponsible corporate practices are becoming more frequent. Transnational corporations have learned to downplay damage ,and focus attention and liability on the local company to elude full criminal and civil liability. Bhopal corporate environmental crime Being the most worst industrial disaster itself fulfil the need to concern about it.the brutality of the incident can be fairly stated by a comment given by a Bhopal resident that Mothers didnt know their children had died ,children didnt know their mothers had died and men didnt know their whole families has died   [9]  simply after the unpleasant incident people said that We were choking and our eyes were burning. We could barely see the road through the fog, and sirens were blaring.We didnt know which way to run. Everybody was very confused  [10]  .before the occurrence Opposition legislators raised the issue in the State Assembly and the clamour surrounding these incidents culminated in a 1983 motion that urged the state government to force the company to relocate the plant to a less-populated area. Starting in 1982, a local journalist named Rajkumar Keswani had frantically tried to warn people of the dangers posed by the facility. In September of 1982, he wrote an articl e entitled Please Save this City. Other articles, written later, bore grimly prophetic titles such as Bhopal Sitting on Top of a Volcano and If You Do Not Understand This You Will Be Wiped Out. Just five months before the tragedy, he wrote his final article: Bhopal on the Brink of a Disaster. Yet when the Independent speaks of rape, the Guardian of disgrace and Jon Snow of a crime against humanity, they are not talking about THAT NIGHT but of what has happened since to those who survived it. Today, 25 years after the disaster, Bhopal remains a humanitarian disaster. Their breathless bodies no longer able to push handcarts and lift heavy loads, thousands have fallen into destitution and their families have learned the lessons of the abyss, binding cloths round their middles to give an illusion of fullness, giving children unable to sleep from hunger water to fill their empty bellies.  [11]   In the midst of this clamour, in May 1982, Union Carbide sent a team of U.S. experts to inspect the Bhopal plant as part of its periodic safety audits. This report, which was forwarded to Union Carbides management in the United States, speaks unequivocally of a potential for the release of toxic materials and a consequent runaway reaction due to equipment failure, operating problems, or maintenance problems. In fact, the report goes on to state rather specifically: Deficiencies in safety valve and instrument maintenance programs. Filter cleaning operations are performed without slip blinding process. Leaking valves could create serious exposure during this process. In its report, the safety audit team noted a total of 61 hazards, 30 of them major and 11 in the dangerous phosgene/MIC units. It had warned of a higher potential for a serious incident or more serious consequences if an accident should occur. Though the report was available to senior U.S. officials of the company, nothing was done  [12]  . In fact, according to Carbides internal documents, a major cost-cutting effort (including a reduction of 335 men) was undertaken in 1983, saving the company $1.25 million that year DOWs liability under corporate crimes Liabilty which is related to the 1984 Bhopal disaster was originally filed in 1987, and reinstated in 1991. Both Warren Anderson, the former CEO of Union Carbide, and the Union Carbide Corporation itself face criminal charges in India of culpable homicide (or manslaughter). Both Anderson and Carbide have repeatedly ignored summons to appear in India for trial, and are officially considered absconders (fugitives from justice) by the Indian Government. While Anderson, if extradited and convicted, would face ten years in prison, Carbide faces a fine which has no upper limit. Along with above mentioned liability DOW also owes environmental liability because keen to distance itself from disaster Union Carbide fled India leaving behind tons of toxic wastes strewn in and around the factory site. According to former workers of the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, while the factory was in operation, massive amounts of chemicals including pesticides, solvents, catalysts and wastes were routinely dumped in and around the factory grounds. These include deadly substances such as aldicarb, carbaryl, mercury, and several chlorinated chemicals and organic poisons. In 1977, Carbide constructed Solar Evaporation Ponds (SEPs) over 14 hectares 400 meters north of its factory. Toxic effluents and toxic wastes were routinely dumped there. Two tube wells dug in the vicinity of the SEPs were abandoned because of the noxious smell and taste of the water. Environmental criminal liability of DOW and Union Carbide A preliminary study of soil and groundwater pollution inside the plant, conducted in 1989 by Carbide, found plenty to be worried about. Some water samples produced a 100% death rate among fish placed in them. Nevertheless Carbide issued no warning. An internal memo refers to the need for secrecy, suggesting that the information should be kept for our own understanding. Not only did it fail to warn people living nearby, it vociferously denied that there was a problem and, incredibly, wrote to the Gas Relief Minister criticizing those who were trying to make people aware of the danger, suggesting that they were mischievous agitators. Carbide in the US meanwhile tried to portray Bhopal activists and their supporters ascommunists who aimed to restructure US society into something unrecognizable and probably unworkable. Carbide and Dow later relied on a report from a government organization called NEERI  [13]  which in 1997 published a report which found that water outside the factory was not contaminated. Consultant Arthur D Little had beenappointed in 1989 by Union Carbide US to work privately with NEERI. ADL believed itself to be working with UCC in Danbury, but all reference to UCC was to be deleted. ADL was to pretend to be working with UCIL alone. But a memo of 1993 shows the US Carbide executives in the driving seat. ADL eventually reported back to Carbide suggesting that NEERI had failed to find contamination because its sampling methods were flawed. In particular ADL suggested it was imprudent to claim that local water was safe for drinking and warned that groundwater contamination could happen far more swiftly and seriously than envisaged. ADL was unclear at one point as to whether NEERI was claiming that labourers were or were not exposed to contaminated groundwater. ADLs suggested ch anges ran to 17 pages, but none of them were incorporated in NEERIs published report, which is what Dow and Carbide still quote, knowing it to be worthless. Carbides own documents reveal that they knew for decades that their disposal practices in Bhopal were leading to massive contamination of the soil and groundwater, and that their sole concern was how to evade responsibility and cover it up. At last we would like to conclude about their liabilities by sayingthat the disaster was caused because Union Carbide had under-invested in an inherently hazardous facility located in a crowded neighborhood, used admittedly unproven designs, stored lethal MIC in reckless quantities, dismantled safety systems and cut down on safety staff and training in an effort to cut costs  [14]   The severity is not hidden now so further we would like to suggest 10 Bhopal principles on corporate liability  [15]  We have chosen to call them the Bhopal Principles because this disaster, more than any other, highlights the current failure of governments to protect public welfare and the failure of corporations to observe basic standards e.g. the avoidance of liability by parent corporations, and the avoidance of responsibility for compensation and environmental cleanup. And further question would is there any need for this kind of principles than we say yes why not because At the Johannesburg Earth Summit, Government looked at what has and has not been done to implement the Rio commitments. The Bhopal case shows that it is important to hold corporations liable and to provide compensation for victims of pollution and other environmental damage, that responsibility for liability and cleanup should be enforceable not only against the local corporate entity, but also against the multinational parent. The Ten Bhopal Principles on Corporate Accountability Implement Rio Principle 13. States shall as a matter of priority enter into negotiations for a legal international instrument, and adopt national laws to operationalise and implement Principle 13 of the Rio Declaration, to address liability and Compensation for the victims of pollution and other environmental damage. Extend Corporate Liability. Corporations must be held strictly liable without requirement of fault for any and all damage arising from any of their activities that cause Environmental or property damage or personal injury, including site remediation. Parent companies as well as subsidiaries and affiliated local corporations must be held liable for compensation and restitution. Corporations must bear cradle to grave responsibility for manufactured products. States must implement individual liability for directors and officers for actions or omissions of the corporation, including for those of subsidiaries. Ensure Corporate Liability for Damage beyond National Jurisdictions. States shall ensure that corporations are liable for injury to persons and damage to property, biological diversity and the environment beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, and to the global commons such as atmosphere and oceans. Liability must include responsibility for environmental cleanup and restoration. Protect Human rights. Economic activity shall not infringe upon basic human and social rights. States have the responsibility to safeguard the basic human and social rights of citizens, in particular the right to life; the right to safe and healthy working conditions; the right to a safe and healthy environment; the right to medical treatment and to compensation for injury and damage; the right to information and the right of access to justice by individuals and by groups promoting these rights. Corporations must respect and uphold these rights. States must ensure effective compliance by all corporations of these rights and provide for legal implementation and enforcement. Provide for Public Participation and the Right to Know. States shall require companies routinely to disclose to the public all information concerning releases to the environment from their respective facilities as well as product composition. Commercial confidentiality must not outweigh the interest of the public to know the dangers and liabilities associated with corporate outputs, whether in the form of pollution by-products or the product itself. Once a product enters the public domain there should be no restrictions on public access to information relevant to environment and health on the basis of commercial secrecy. Corporate responsibility and accountability shall be promoted through environmental management accounting and environmental reporting which gives a clear, comprehensive and public report of environmental and social impacts of corporate activities. Adhere to the Highest Standards. States shall ensure that corporations adhere to the highest standards for protecting basic human and social rights including health and the environment. Consistent with Rio Declaration Principle 14, States shall not permit multinational corporations to deliberately apply lower standards of operation and safety in places where health and environmental protection regimes, or their implementation, are weaker. Avoid Excessive Corporate Influence over Governance. States shall co-operate to combat bribery in all its forms, promote transparent political financing mechanisms and eliminate corporate influence on public policy through election campaign contributions, and/or non-transparent corporate-led lobby practices. Protect Food Sovereignty over Corporations. States shall ensure that individual States and their people maintain sovereignty over their own food supply, including through laws and measures to prevent genetic pollution of agricultural biological diversity by genetically engineered organisms and to prevent the patenting of genetic resources by corporations. Implement the Precautionary Principle and Require Environmental Impact Assessments. States shall fully implement the Precautionary Principle in national and international law. Accordingly, States shall require corporations to take preventative action before environmental damage or heath effects are incurred, when there is a threat of serious or irreversible harm to the environment or health from an activity, a practice or a product. Governments shall require companies to undertake environmental impact assessments with public participation for activities that may cause significant adverse environmental impacts. Promote Clean and Sustainable Development. States shall promote clean and sustainable development, and shall establish national legislation to phase out the use, discharge and emission of hazardous substances and greenhouse gases, and other sources of pollution, to use their resources in a sustainable manner, and to conserve their biological diversity. HOW TO HANDLE AND CONTROL CORPORATE CRIMES There are many ways for law enforcement authorities to combat corporate crime. Firstly, prevention. This can be achieved by encouraging awareness of the moral compass within corporations and among their employees and the promotion of self-regulation. This should be complemented by an effective corporate oversight regime through internal compliance programmes as well as regulation by the Companies Commission and Securities Commissions or its equivalent. For the latter purpose, it will be necessary to put in place effective laws and regulations in a timely manner. In turn, these laws will also have to be actively enforced by well-trained law enforcement agencies and prosecutors if they are to be a realistic deterrent. In this regard it is noted that although sustained enforcement against corporate crime is required as a strong deterrent and to maintain public confidence in the financial markets, enforcement should be seen as a measure to augment internal vigilance and not as a substitu te for it. Thus corporations must also play their role as responsible corporate citizens in the national and global communities. With regard to the investigation and prosecution of corporate crimes with a transnational flavour, be it through the multinational nature of the corporation or the elements of the crime, the importance of international cooperation to gather evidence and recover the ill-gotten gains cannot be overstated. States should therefore put in place a comprehensive domestic legal framework that includes laws to criminalize the relevant criminal acts and impose corporate and individual liability for them. Another crucial element will be effective whistleblower and witness protection laws. A network of bilateral and regional treaties on mutual assistance in criminal matters and extradition together with bilateral treaties on asset sharing is also indispensable. These instruments would complement the stand-alone framework provided under the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the UN Convention against Corruption. In this regard, countries in the ASEAN region are also able to utilize the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters which was concluded in November 2004 among the ten like-minded ASEAN Member States and is currently in force among Brunei, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. Suggestions from our side Amendment to section 62 of the Indian penal code by adding the following lines: In every case in which the offence is only punishable with imprisonment or imprisonment and fine and the offender is the company or other body corporate or an association of individuals, it shall be competent to the court to sentence such offender to fine only. In many of the acts relating to economic offences, imprisonment is mandatory. Where the convicted person is corporation, this provision becomes unworkable and it is desirable to provide that in such cases, it shall be competent to

Letter to My Family :: Disease Outbreak Health Essays

Letter to My Family To My Family, Where do I begin? I don't know how many Shelly's piano concerts I missed for this stupid job. Shelly, if you're reading this, I am really sorry. I wish I could make amends but there simply isn't enough time. Jacob, I am sorry I have to leave you even before I would see your first steps. Diana, my sweetheart, loving wife of 10 years, I owe you the most. All those nights that I stumbled home drunk. All those times that I hit you. I am sorry. I am a monster. I guess I do deserve to die like this. Last month I didn't even know where the hell Zaire was. All I knew was that it was some poor backwards nation in Africa that we sold water filters to. Funny how things turn out, I am going to die in this god forsaken place. Twenty people in this village have died. The rest that haven't probably wish they were. David is already dead. Honey, you remember David right? That junior assistant in our department I told you about? I never liked him. He died first too. Serves that prick right. He wanted to tag along on this trip hoping to attain "valuable sales experience." Always kissing up to the boss, that's David. He started complaining about soreness and a headache. Then the day before he died, he vomited all over my briefcase after lunch. We thought he was just complaining as usual four nights ago, but in the morning we found him in his hut dead. I will never forget that sight. His eyes and mouth were both wide open and trails of dried blood ran from them. At first, we th ought one of the villagers poisoned us or something. But then, one of the villagers started screaming as loud as he could. He stumbled and ran in the woods afterwards. We never saw him again. I knew this was bad news already. But it only got worse. The UN folks showed up wearing suits that looked like they were taken straight out of a movie or something. They were all covered up and some of them even had oxygen masks. They prodded David like a dead cow and even stuck a few needles into him.