Law: obligations

Larissa is a world-famous artist and photographer turned social influencer. She currently lives in Toronto where she bought a house in an affluent Rosedale neighborhood. In the summer of 2019, Larissa staged multiple performance art compositions in her house. Her neighbors (Anna and Jacob K.) complained that the art performances produced lots of smoke, garbage, and discomfort for everyone in the neighborhood. Larissa dismissed all the concerns and emphasized that she was an artist so sacrifices in the process of art creation are unavoidable. One day, Larissa went out to grab some tea in the local coffeeshop Happy Cow. After the barista served a cup of tea, Larissa picked it up just to realize that the cup was unusually heavy. Once she opened the lid, she saw multiple metal pieces in it. When she confronted the barista, he apologized and said that the metal pieces ended up inside the cup by accident. The coffeeshop received a couple of new boxes with cups and lids and the overwhelmed staff did not have a chance to sort them out yet. Larissas misfortunes did not end there. In the evening of the same day, she learned that Jacob posted a new episode of his podcast in which he condemned Larissa for a number of unethical practices during the staged performances. When Larissas lawyer reached out to Jacob, Jacob refused to speak with her. Through his own lawyer, he informed Larissa that he wants to sue her for nuisance. The episode of his podcast went viral, and he got 5000 new subscribers right after the episode about Larissa. Larissa now wants to sue Jacob but does not know what the basis of the potential claim can be.

Please note that you represent Larissa. Please identify a possible basis of the claim(s) (if any) by Larissa against Jacob and Happy Cow.

Next, please explain whether Larissa can succeed in her claim(s) against Jacob and Happy Cow.

In your analysis, please make sure that you apply the legal principles to the facts of the fact-pattern, draw inferences to the relevant case-law and other materials of this course as appropriate.