Opinion ID: 1426933
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: the plaintiffs' theory of intentional interference with advantageous business relations

Text: ¶ 49 The respondents appear to press a common-law claim for tortious interference with advantageous business relations. [96] We need not examine in detail the particular elements of this cause of action. If there is no component of unlawfulness in either the objective of the agreement or in the means by which the purpose or objective is to be accomplished, there can be no actionable tort of interference with advantageous relations. [97] ¶ 50 A review of plaintiffs' complaints fails to disclose any allegations of unlawful means used by the newspapers to interfere with the plaintiffs' prospective or present business relationships. Any publication that falls within the state constitutional freedom of political speech cannot be viewed as an act of tortious interference with a lawyer's advantageous business relations. Measuring this claim by the Conley v. Gibson test, [98] we conclude from the four corners of the second amended petition (viewed in conjunction with the physical attachments to the first amended petition) that the respondents cannot advance a claim for delictual interference with their advantageous relations which would entitle them to relief against the petitioners on this theory of liability. ¶ 51 Today's holding that the plaintiffs have failed to state against the petitioners a claim upon which relief may be afforded has its basis in the political speech protections afforded by the various clauses of the Oklahoma Constitution. U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence need not be invoked as dispositive in passing upon rights guaranteed by state constitutional provisions. The Oklahoma Constitution affords bona fide separate, adequate, and independent grounds upon which today's opinion is rested. [99]