Hobby Lobby Essay

Submitted By bperez8
Words: 3887
Pages: 16
Open Document
I. INTRODUCTION

In the case of Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., the Tenth District Court decided in favor Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. on June 30th. The court held that the documented burden of the Health and Human Services was far too illustrious of a constraint on the Hobby Lobby’s religious belief. As a result, the corporation was able to hold a claim under the District Court by asserting that under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA). i The case presented manifold challenges to the Court. One of these challenges dealt with determining whether a for-profit corporation was to be considered a person, which is only vaguely phrased under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.ii If so, the next challenge to be considered was whether these corporations, which are considered persons, may hold religious values as well as exercise them. The case concluded that Hobby Lobby was in fact a “person”, under RFRA, and could exercise its First Amendment right of freedom of religion. iii Under the RFRA, the court held that the government had compelled substantial religious burden on Hobby Lobby and as a result, granted exemption from the contraceptive mandate of the Health and Human Service. iv By deciding that for-profit entities have rights under RFRA, the Court inadequately considered the doctrines of corporation law, misapplied free exercise jurisprudence, and misapprehended RFRA. Lastly, the Tenth Circuit’s result that for-profit entities can implement religion generates the capability for doubt in the field of corporate litigation by putting derivative actions on a conflict course with the church autonomy doctrine. v
I hold that the Tenth Circuit Court misinterpreted the rights of the corporation by granting the immunity of the government mandate of contraceptive coverage by the corporation’s legal duty to provide proper health care coverage. In order to provide evidence on my statement, I find it necessary to discuss the corporate form and properly define what a corporation entails. Next, I find it important to discuss the term “person”, when applying the term to a corporation and determining whether a “legal person” holds the same rights as a “natural person”. Lastly, this paper will address the act of “piercing the corporate veil” as well as the notion of “reversing the corporate veil” in respect to the Hobby Lobby case.

II. SEPERATION AMONG SHAREHOLDERS AND CORPORATIONS

It is important to apprehend that corporations are separate and distinct from their shareholders, where the key word is “separate”. The Principle of Strict Separation is very much acknowledged and accepted in the Court of Law. Since the 18th century, this legal separateness between corporation and shareholders has been the foundation of corporate law. vi The notion of separating a corporation from its shareholders was enacted in order to impose limited liability among shareholders and to encourage investments and innovation of all corporations.vii Due to the long-established corporate entity theory, legal systems generally adhere to the approach of legal separateness and judge a corporation and its shareholders to be separate legal entities for all purposes. viii Overall, the most important aspect of this is to comprehend that a corporation is distinct from its shareholders regardless of how many shares a shareholder has acquired.ix Hence, if a single individual is to own all of the stock of a corporation it may not be implied that the corporation and this individual are the same person, nor share the same privileges and liabilities.x

III. BENEFITS OF INCORPORATING

Over the course of time, the Court has highlighted that the main purpose for a company to incorporate is in order to create a distinct legal person, which may enjoy legal rights, powers, and privileges separate from those legal rights, powers, and privileges of the natural individuals who own the corporation. xi By
Show More

Related Documents: Hobby Lobby Essay

Case Study: Hobby Lobby

Hobby lobby, a retailer, dealing in the sale of arts and crafts, has come under criticism for its decision to move to the Supreme Court to oppose the requirement in "Obamacare' or Affordable Care Act. The Act requires businesses to provide emergency contraception in the employee plans for healthcare. Lobby Hobby responded by going to court saying the move was in contravention of their beliefs that bans the use of contraceptives. However, while the company went to court to oppose the requirements…

Words 1939 - Pages 8

Hobby Lobby Case Summary

enhance the quality of care for all Americans. The Green Family is a religious family that follows the christian faith. In their business, they have incorporated their faith into their business, the Hobby Lobby Stores. This chain has over five hundred stores and over thirteen thousand employees. Hobby Lobby was not a non profit organization, but they were a religious based organization. Because of the Affordable Health Act, they were forced to cover contraceptives for their employees until 2012 when…

Words 667 - Pages 3

Hobby Lobby Case Summary

Hobby Lobby violated the rights of their employees by denying them a health coverage plan that covered contraception. Hobby Lobby challenged Kathleen Sebelius, a politician who was Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Green family, founders and controlling shareholders of Hobby Lobby, discovered the insure plan that was being offered to their employees had covered different forms of contraceptives. The Green’s lawyer had uncovered this “error” 2012, multiple years after Hobby Lobby went into…

Words 654 - Pages 3

Sebelius Vs. Hobby Lobby

Supreme Court of the United States decision on Sebelius vs. Hobby Lobby was a five to four vote in favor of Hobby Lobby. The majority decision included justices, Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito, who was the author of the majority's decision. Alito wrote, “people or companies should not be forced to compromise their own morality by facilitating what they perceive as the immoral acts of others (Kemp & Skelton, 2014).” A major point for the majority decision was the exemption that Health…

Words 340 - Pages 2

Burwell V. Hobby Lobby Case

Basically, Hobby Lobby case is two cases heard together which is between Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood v. Burwell. Burwell is the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). When people want to sue the government for the constitutional rights, they typically name a specific official who heads the government agency or department that is doing the violation. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc owned and operates by Green family…

Words 1466 - Pages 6

Burwell V. Hobby Lobby Stores

COMM 3310 – LEGAL CASE BRIEF Citation: Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores 573 U.S. 13-354 (2014) Chapter or area of communication law that your brief applies to. First Amendment Rights: Free Exercise of Religion The second part of the brief is the facts of the case. This is the summary or background that led to this particular dispute. It resembles a journalist’s report offering only the basic “who, what, where, when, how and why” of the trial and case record leading up to the present appeal. Included…

Words 598 - Pages 3

Sebelius V. Hobby Lobby: Case Analysis

To begin, the conflict formally arose in the Supreme Court case, Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby. On the religion side of the debate, we have Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. along with other private organizations; and on the side of the Federal Government and Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. On behalf of Hobby Lobby, Paul D. Clement, Esq. argues that it is unconstitutional for the Federal Government to force any private entity to…

Words 2815 - Pages 12

Case Study: Burwell V. Hobby Lobby

Burwell v. Hobby Lobby was a landmark court cases that lasted from November 26, 2013 to June 30, 2014. Although the court case was being appealed since Semptember 2012. The case came down to a very slim margin; the jury voted in Hobby Lobby's favor with a 5-4 vote. The court case was mainly about religious freedoms in for-profit businesses. Hobby Lobby is a business that was founded by the Green Family that started with a $600 loan used to make picture frames in there house. That has expanded to…

Words 1269 - Pages 6

Hobby Lobby Store Inc. Case Study

operates Hobby Lobby Store, Inc., which is a for-profit corporation selling national arts and crafts. The Green family had their businesses based on Christian belief and the company had desire to organized with Christian faith principles. They believed that their employees should spend Sundays with the family and operated only 66 hours a week. The Affordable Care Act requires health care plans that covers certain types of preventative care, including contraceptive methods. The owners of Hobby Lobby denied…

Words 620 - Pages 3

Burwell V. Hobby Lobby Case Study

must give greater weight to the text of the Constitution and what the common meaning of the language was at the time of its adoption. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the dissenting opinion writer in the case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. The case focused on the ability of a corporation, Hobby Lobby, to deny access to birth control options to their employees as mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the grounds of religious…

Words 720 - Pages 3