Legal Question in Business Law in West Virginia

Business Law

I am in a business law class & have been asked this question. I have a differnet response than eveyone else what do you think? Highland Enterprises, Inc. agreed to build roads for Shearer Lumber to transport timber it purchased from the U.S. Forest Service. The Service issued and order restricting public access to the area where the roads were being built. A group of environmental protesters engaged in activities to slow the road construction and they were arrested. Billy Jo Barker and John Kreilick were buried in the road. Jennifer Prichard was chained to an access gate. Peter Leusch and Beatrix Jenness interfered with Highland�s efforts to remove slash piles from the road. Boards with nails protruding and sharp-ended rebar were put in the road and construction equipment was damaged. Highland sued the protestors for intentional interference with economic advantage. Should it succeed?


Asked on 1/21/08, 11:46 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Thomas Zimmerman Zimmerman Law Office

Re: Business Law

Why should it not succeed? Does free speech constitute a defense against tort or a criminal trespass charge? There seems to be a belief that activity that promotes the general welfare, as seen through the eyes of the doer, ought to be exempt from accountability or responsibility. On a day like today, we should honor the right to engage in civil disobedience. Martin Luther King showed what a useful tool it can be to bring attention to a movement or to inequity. Justice Hugo Black opined that one must be ready and willing to take the consequences of such disobedience. Your protesters cannot escape tort responsibility or criminal justice merely because they champion a good cause.

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Answered on 1/21/08, 12:12 pm


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