Business

Business Ethics Case

Jen Oliver

BUS 417/ Business Law

May 31, 2010

Jane Schneider

Business Ethics Case

In the case involving Jones v. Calder, Shirley Jones was known as an American Sweetheart, and Iain Calder was the editor of the National Enquirer. Her career included starring roles in the musical Oklahoma! and The Music Man. She gained additional fame as the mother on the television series The Partridge Family. Iain Calder was the editor of the National Enquirer for about twenty years. The National Enquirer was founded in 1926 as The New York Evening Enquirer and had a circulation of more than five million copies nationwide.

Nature of the claim

In this case, Jones and her husband filed suit against Calder for an article discussing marital problems between Jones and her husband with the headline of “Husband’s Bizarre Behavior Is Driving Shirley Jones to Drink.” The National Enquirer alleged that Jones was an alcoholic, and that she was drinking at work as well. Jones and her husband brought this suit against the National Enquirer, Inc., its local distributing company, and petitioners for libel, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional harm (Thomson Reuters Business, 2010).

Jurisdiction

Jones, the respondent, lived in California, and although the article had been written and edited in the state of Florida, she filed her lawsuit in a California state court. Typically, when a citizen of one state sues an individual or business based in another state, the lawsuit is filed in a federal court. This unusual move led the National Enquirer to ask that the case be dismissed. The California trial court agreed with the National Enquirer and dismissed the case, but the California Court of Appeals reversed the cases, therefore, allowing Jones to sue the National Enquirer. The tabloid argued that because the principal offices are in the state of Florida that the California courts had no jurisdiction in this case. Kesan (n.d.), "The court also...