Question

Chapter 2 Discussion Forum This is a post-first discussion forum. 40 Please respond to the following by answering the two questions and then respond discuss this with two other students.: A Question of Ethics-Free Speech. Aric Toll owns and manages the Balboa Island Village Inn, a restaurant and bar in Newport Beach, California. Anne Lemen lives across from the Inn. Lemen complained to the authorities about the Inn's customers, whom she called "drunks" and "whores." Lemen told the Inn's bartender Ewa Cook that Cook "worked for Satan." She repeated her statements to potential customers, and the Inn's sales dropped more than 20 percent. The Inn filed a suit against Lemen. [Balboa Island Village Inn, Inc. V. Lemen, 40 Cal.4th 1141, 156 P.3d 339 (2007)] (See Business and the Bill of Rights.) 1. Are Lemen's statements about the Inn's owners and customers protected by the U.S. Constitution? In whose favor should the court rule? Why? 2. Did Lemen behave unethically in the circumstances of this case? Explain.

Answer 1

1) Yes, the Lemen’s statements about the Inn’s owners and customers are protected by the US Constitution because all people is US can articulate their opinions on any ill happening around them. The court should rule in favor of Lemen because the Inn’s customers disturbs the people around the Inn. The Lemen’s statement against the Inn’s customer is good enough according to the “Freedom of Speech”.

Quote: As per Law of Speech: “Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The term "freedom of expression" is sometimes used synonymously but includes any act of seeking, receiving, and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used.”

2) The Lemen behavior was not unethical in the given circumstances because the people living in the surrounding of the Inn usually get disturbed by the drunken Inn’s customer. Everyone who comes in this situation does raise voice against the Inn’s customers. The “Freedom of speech and expression” very clearly indicates that without any fear people have to raise his/her voice against social evils.

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