Arriving and delivering a load of company executives for a business meeting at a destination far from home base requiring an overnight stay, a company’s pilot requested approval from the company finance office to pay to either have the company’s jet brought into the FBO's hangar overnight to protect it from a forecast snowfall or to have it de-iced by the FBO the following morning well-before scheduled departure. The company was under considerable financial pressure at the time, and the pilot’s requests were denied because of the cost. So, early the following morning, the pilot was up on the wing of the jet sweeping off an accumulation of snow and ice with a borrowed push broom in preparation for the scheduled departure with the executives, but slipped and fell to the ground, suffering a broken neck. The business was organized as a limited partnership, owned by 3 limited partners and one general partner. As a cost-saving measure, the company had dropped its workers’ compensation insurance before the accident.

1. Analyze the potential liability for the pilot’s injuries of each of the following, showing your reasoning clearly:

a. The company

b. The general partner

c. The limited partners

2. Analyze how the outcome would have been different, if the business had been organized as a corporation and observed all of the formalities to legitimize its corporate status.

3. Analyze how the outcome would have been different, if the pilot had been covered by workers’ compensation insurance.