Stanton v. Armstrong: Case File (NITA)

Stanton v. Armstrong is a civil action for defamation and tortious interference with contract with the extra glamor of a beauty pageant. Harper Stanton brought the action against Toby Armstrong in the United States District Court, District of Nita, for an allegedly defamatory statement claiming Stanton had taken a bribe to fix the Miss Olympia beauty pageant. Armstrong posted this statement on the Pageant Tips Blog. At the time of the blog post, Stanton was the Chief Executive Officer of Miss Olympia, Inc. and Armstrong was a blogger and the owner of a pageant contestant coaching company. Many facilities and technology malfunctions impacted the quality of the Miss Olympia Pageant that year: lighting and sound problems; a missing judge; changes in the scoring method. After the disastrous pageant, Miss Olympia, Inc. fired Stanton. Were Armstrong's unfounded claims the basis for Stanton's firing? Was Stanton legitimately fired for being a dishonest CEO manipulating the pageant from behind the scenes? Or was Stanton fired for tarnishing the Miss Olympia Pageant through no fault of his own? This entertaining case file supports all the alleged intrigue with exhibits that include blog posts, a Twitter account, and a YouTube video, all hosted on "microsites" specifically created for use in trial. Scoring sheets and pageant guidelines, photographs, room sketches, and more provide a wealth of information for students to analyze when deciding what to pursue in both depositions and the full trial.