After a nonparty to the lawsuit allegedly told defendant that plaintiff was gay or bisexual, defendant relayed that information to a third-party defendant, a close family friend of plaintiff’s longtime girlfriend, with the hope that the girlfriend would be told. Plaintiff, maintaining that defendant’s actions caused the deterioration and ultimate termination of his relationship with his girlfriend, filed an action alleging slander per se. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the case was legally insufficient due to plaintiff’s failure to allege special damages, which involve "the loss of something having economic or pecuniary value." Do you think that the court ultimately found that the accusations of homosexuality or bisexuality amounted to defamation per se? Why or why not?

David burdick is the ceo of acme bubblegum, a successful public company. as one of the cofounders of the company, burdick has enjoyed speaking and writing about the success of acme bubblegum for several years. typically, he speaks at conferences or directly to the press, but recently, he has been blogging about his firm anonymously. specifically, he defended a recent advertising campaign that was unpopular among consumers and pointedly attacked one of acme bubblegum’s competitors. burdick deeply enjoys his anonymous blogging and believes that none of his readers actually know that he works for acme bubblegum.should burdick be allowed to praise his company’s performance anonymously online? should he be allowed to attack his competitors without disclosing his relationship with the company? how would you feel if the ceo of a company at which you shopped was secretly writing criticisms of his or her competition? how would you feel if you knew a writer for your favorite blog was actually closely involved in a company that the blog discussed? 1. define the ethical issue? 2. who are the primary stakeholders? 3. what are the possible alternatives? 4. how could you evaluate the ethical implications of the alternative actions (use appropriate decision rules)? 5. what action would you recommend and why?