Johnson v. Ryan

¶33

Siddoway, C.J.

(concurring) — “[T]he individual’s right to the protection of his good name ‘reflects no more than our basic concept of the essential dignity and worth of every human being — a concept at the root of any decent system of ordered liberty.’ ” Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 341, 94 S. Ct. 2997, 41 L. Ed. 2d 789 (1974) (quoting Rosenblatt v. Baer, 383 U.S. 75, 92, 86 S. Ct. 669, 15 L. Ed. 2d 597 (1966) (Stewart, J., concurring)).

¶34 Had James Ryan responded to Yvonne Johnson’s perceived wrongs against him by throwing a rock through her window or breaking her nose, she…