Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
D.C.
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Mass.
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
N.Carolina
N.Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
S.Carolina
S.Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
W.Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Law Firm Website Design Companies : The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly


A newspaper advertisement harshly criticizing a competitor for a discount sale might have been distasteful and juvenile but also was constitutionally protected free speech, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Chicago men’s clothing store Imperial Apparel took competitor Cosmo’s Designer Direct to court after Cosmo’s ran an ad in October 2004 in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Cosmo’s ran the ad to notify customers that it was unhappy that Imperial was touting a new 3-for-1 sale, which Cosmo’s was known for offering.

The wide-ranging ad did not mention Imperial by name, but did refer to “Empire rags center.” It said the competitor had the integrity of the “Iraq information minister” and that the 3-for-1 was an imitation offer that “has the transparency of a hooker’s come on.”

Imperial’s owners responded by suing Cosmo’s and the Sun-Times for running the ad, saying it was defamatory and damaged the company’s reputation.

An appellate court partially agreed with Imperial’s argument.

But the Supreme Court determined that the ad wasn’t defamatory because its statements couldn’t be viewed as facts about Imperial.

“The text is artless, ungrammatical, sophomoric and sometimes nonsensical,” Justice Lloyd Karmeier wrote in the court’s opinion.

“We do not believe, however, that an ordinary reader would perceive it as making objectively verifiable assertions about [Imperial’s] business.”

Imperial lawyer Edward Feldman said Thursday he hadn’t talked with Imperial’s owners about the next step in the case. The company changed its name to Suits 20/20 in recent years in an unrelated business decision, Feldman said.

“We think this was a vicious and intentional libel and that the ad contained facts that are defamatory and not mere opinion,” Feldman said.

Cosmo’s lawyer James Wolf said the company was pleased with the outcome.

“The law is offensive speech does not render it defamatory,” Wolf said.

Wolf and Sun-Times lawyer Damon Dunn agreed that advertisers and newspapers can breathe easier with Thursday’s ruling.

Advertisers could have been scared away from aggressive competition and newspapers could have been forced to screen ads and even letters to the editor for factual accuracy if the ruling had been different, they said.

“We think that this means that we won’t have all these lawyers and judges and juries all looking over our shoulders,” Dunn said.


Legal News | Breaking News | Terms & Conditions | Privacy

ⓒ Breaking Legal News. All Rights Reserved.

The content contained on the web site has been prepared by BLN as a service to the internet community and is not intended to constitute legal advice or a substitute for consultation with a licensed legal professional in a particular case. Affordable law firm web design company
   More Legal News
   Legal Spotlight
   Exclusive Commentaries
   Attorney & Blog - Blog Watch
   Law Firm News  1  2  3  4  5  6 
   Lawyer & Law Firm Links
Car Accident Lawyers
Sunnyvale, CA Personal Injury Attorney
www.esrajunglaw.com
Family Law in East Greenwich, RI
Divorce Lawyer, Erica S. Janton
www.jantonfamilylaw.com
Oregon DUI Law Attorney
Eugene DUI Lawyer. Criminal Defense Law
www.mjmlawoffice.com
New York, New Jersey Adoption Lawyers
New York Foster Care Lawyers
Adoption Pre-Certification
www.lawrsm.com
Chicago, Naperville IL Workers' Compensation Lawyers
Chicago Workplace Injury Attorneys
www.krol-law.com
Raleigh, NC Business Lawyer
www.rothlawgroup.com
Lorain Elyria Divorce Lawyer
www.loraindivorceattorney.com
Connecticut Special Education Lawyer
www.fortelawgroup.com
Employer Defense Attorney
Gardena Labor Law Defense Lawyers
www.aclawfirm.net
   More Legal News  1  2  3  4  5  6
   Legal News Links
  Click The Law
  Daily Bar News
  The Legal Report
  Legal News Post
  Crisis Legal News
  Legal News Journal
  Korean Web Agency
  Law Firm Directory