Use this fact situation to answer the related questions that follow.
John is an engineer in a large, public car manufacturing company that recently released a new line of cars in which the gasoline tanks were installed just in front of the rear bumper. John was aware that tests of the new cars indicated that in a high-speed rear-end collision the gas tanks would explode. John sent a memo to his supervisor about this and the supervisor forwarded the memo to upper management, including the directors and the CEO of the company, who had a study done to determine how may claims the company was likely to have against it resulting from this defect and comparing it to the cost of recalling all of the new cars and fixing the defect. The study concluded that the cost of paying the claims would be substantially less than the cost of recalling all of the cars and fixing them. As a result, the CEO with the board of directors decided not to fix the defect. In the first year of sales of the new line of cars, there were 12 occasions where occupants of the car were seriously injured by exploding gas tanks in rear-end collisions.
In this case, in theory and based on current law, most likely
a. the upper management of the company, including the directors and CEO, will be exposed to criminal liability.
b. the upper management of the company, including the directors and CEO, will be exposed to liability in tort.
c. the company will be found criminally liable for criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
d. the company will be found civilly responsible in tort.
e. all of the above
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