Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
Marie Antionette’s, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” has been woven into the fabric of an American case in today’s age concerning gay rights and freedom of speech. The cost of regulating free speech is quantified by the emotional, political and economic costs overall. These aspects are weighed against the cost of allowing the speech to flourish. Freedom of speech is a value, not a principle and it is getting harder and harder for the courts to assess it in a political climate in which America remains divided.
In Colorado, a gay couple was denied the right to have a wedding cake made by a baker who seemed to have questioned their religious beliefs by having signed up in the store saying: “We do not bake cakes for gay weddings.”
Many would agree that the idea of freedom of speech is not permitted to say anything anybody thinks outright. It means balancing values of a given view to ensure that other members of a given community can participate in discourse on an equal footing. It includes someone’s humanity and their right to participate in political speech as long as it is not attacked, demeaned or questioned. People should not be shut down due to individual expression. In this instance, many would believe that a right to have equal access to a baker includes freedom of speech or practice.
Colorado civil rights commission found the refusal to bake a cake for the gay couple in violation of its state anti-discrimination law. In the high court, the bakery argued that the lower courts’ findings violate its rights to both religious freedom and free speech. That ruling had the ability to divide people further as some view it as not being an act of free speech but rather one of service and giving rise to an ability to boycott. For such a reason the matter is now going before the Supreme Court and a decision to be made next year in June.
The bakery’s argument is that it has a constitutional right to free expression of religion but does such freedom give it the right to discriminate?
The timeline for such cases in the past has been rejected by the courts in their decision making an application:
- 1960 – a small chain of restaurants said that its owner’s freedom of religion would be violated when it refused to serve black patrons in South Carolina.
- 1983 – a Christian school in North Carolina argued its religious right to refuse black students for admission. In the same case, it was also argued it had a right to deny students who engaged in, or advocated for, interracial dating.
- 1990 – a Christian school in Virginia argued that it had a right to pay women less because their faith taught that men should be heads of households.
The courts rejected all of those arguments in rulings that advocated for religious liberties which did not translate into a right to discriminate. In essence, the Supreme Court’s decision will either accept the cake shop’s religion argument or reject that. For such reasons, the decision may mean that religious liberty could in certain instances provide a way out of the anti-discrimination law.
http://beta.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-melling-masterpiece-cakeshop-supreme-court-20171204-story.html
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/11/there-have-been-so-many-bad-lefty-free-speech-takes-lately.html
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/upfront/2017/12/free-speech-protected-matter-171215083726784.html
Our Wheaton IL libel and slander lawyers concentrate in this area of the law. We have defended or prosecuted a number of defamation and libel cases, including cases representing a consumer sued by a large luxury used car dealer in federal court for hundreds of negative internet reviews and videos which resulted in substantial media coverage of the suit; one of Loyola University’s largest contributors when the head basketball coach sued him for libel after he was fired; and a lawyer who was falsely accused of committing fraud with the false allegation published to the Dean of the University of Illinois School of Law, where the lawyer attended law school and the President of the University of Illinois. One of our partners also participated in representing a high profile athlete against a well-known radio shock jock.
Our Chicago defamation attorneys defend individuals’ First Amendment and free speech rights to post on Facebook, Yelp and other websites information that criticizes businesses and addresses matters of public concern. Our Chicago Cybersquatting attorneys also represent and prosecute claims on behalf of businesses throughout the Chicago area including in Hinsdale and Elmhurst who have been unfairly and falsely criticized by consumers and competitors in defamatory publications in the online and offline media. We have successfully represented businesses who have been the victim of competitors setting up false rating sites and pretend consumer rating sites that are simply forums to falsely bash or business clients. We have also represented and defended consumers First Amendment and free speech rights to criticize businesses who are guilty of consumer fraud and false advertising.
Super Lawyers named Chicago and Oak Brook business trial attorney Peter Lubin a Super Lawyer in the Categories of Class Action, Business Litigation, and Consumer Rights Litigation. Lubin Austermuehle’s Oak Brook and Chicago business trial lawyers have over thirty years of experience in litigating complex class action, consumer rights and business and commercial litigation disputes. We handle emergency business lawsuits involving injunctions, and TROS, defamation, libel, and covenant not to compete, franchise, distributor and dealer wrongful termination and trade secret lawsuits and many different kinds of business disputes involving shareholders, partnerships, closely held businesses and employee breaches of fiduciary duty. We also assist businesses and business owners who are victims of fraud or defamatory attacks on their business and reputations.
Lubin Austermuehle’s DuPage County defamation and slander lawyers near Carol Stream and Long Grove have more than three decades of experience helping business clients unravel the complexities of Illinois and out-of-state business laws. Our Chicago business, commercial, class-action and consumer litigation lawyers represent individuals, family businesses and enterprises of all sizes in a variety of legal disputes, including disputes among partners and shareholders as well as lawsuits between businesses and consumer rights, auto fraud, and wage claim individual and class action cases. In every case, our goal is to resolve disputes as quickly and successfully as possible, helping business clients protect their investments and get back to business as usual. From offices in Oak Brook, near Western Springs and Indianhead Park, we serve clients throughout Illinois and the Midwest.
If you are the victim of a defamatory attack on your business or a consumer who has been sued to stop you from posting criticism of a business online at Yelp or anywhere else, contact one of our Oak Brook and Chicago defamation lawyers for a free consultation at 630-333-0333 or online by filling out our contact us form.