Reference no: EM133408190

Case Study: Paul Protester is angry about gas prices. And he wants people to know it. On Tuesday, Paul gathers a group of his friends, who happen to be practicing Buddhists. They have vowed to reject violence in every form. The group heads to a downtown Phoenix city park and begin a sit-in. They chant and sing and play bongo drums - all in the name of raising awareness about rising gas prices.

By 10pm, people who live near the park have had enough of the noise. They call police and demand that authorities enforce a noise ordinance that requires quiet hours at the city park between 10pm and 6am on weekdays. The ordinance was put in place because the park had become quite noisy during the week and neighbors complained that they couldn't sleep at night.

Police arrive at the park and order the protesters to leave. Paul is still angry and yells to his protester friends to attack the police officers. Paul is arrested immediately and charged with incitement.

Paul gets out of jail on bail and decides to hold a news conference about gas prices. The ruckus at the park caught the attention of the media, so Rhonda Reporter shows up to the news conference. Paul makes the following statement during the news conference:

"The AirCo Gas company is deliberately manipulating gas prices in order to make record profits."

Rhonda uses the quote in her news story, attributing it to Paul. Rhonda does not reach out to AirCo for comment. You wouldn't know it from reading Rhonda's story, but AirCo Gas has not manipulated gas prices. The bad publicity from the story hurts the company's profits.

Meantime, one of the Buddhists reaches out to Rhonda, claiming to have a scoop about Paul. The Buddhist demands that his name not be used in the story because he is afraid of Paul. Rhonda agrees to keep his name confidential. The Buddhist tells Rhonda that Paul has a violent temper and that he is in a bad mood because his wife is leaving him. Apparently, Paul was cheating on his wife and gave her a sexually-transmitted disease. The Buddhist is very concerned that his name will be connected to the story and that Paul will find him and physically attack him. He tells Rhonda she can find the information on Paul and his wife in a divorce record in court.

Rhonda goes to the court and requests a copy of Paul's divorce filing. Sure enough, the documents contain the information about the cheating and the STD. Rhonda publishes a story about the divorce, including Paul's wife's name and the fact that she got an STD from Paul. But Rhonda also includes the Buddhist's name in the story as a source of the information, along with citing the court documents. She forgot about her agreement with the Buddhist. The Buddhist has a nervous breakdown and needs to see a therapist to help him deal with his fear of Paul.

Two months later, Paul runs into the Buddhist on the street and gives him the middle finger.

Questions:

• What lawsuit would Paul's wife file against Rhonda and would it succeed? (Use IRAC)
• If Paul is charged with obscenity for flipping the middle finger at the Buddhist, would the charge result in a conviction? (Use IRAC)