Is it unlawful for businesses to tear down their competitions flyers in a public place such as a community col

In answering your question I have to address two distinct legal ramifications (1) criminal (2) civil. Your question appears to call for a criminal asnwer b/c you ask if it is "unlawful" breaking the law IE: committing a crime, but you later refer to "small claims court" which is civil. Where do your interest most lie? In the criminal or civil arena.

If you can prove who the culprit is there could be a criminal case for a crime such a vandelism, destruction of property etc. I doubt that theft would fly. The conduct described would require something else it is too far of a stretch, more of a leap from vandelism to theft. To charge someone with the crime of theft they state must be able to prove certain elements beyond a reasonable doubt (the highest burden in our country)

The elements differ in each state so you would have to look at your state's criminal code, (revised statutues) Common elements are:
(1) the person
(2)took something of value
here you have to be able to prove the actual value , of the paper (not of its potential earning capacity as a marketing and advertising tool) the value is what determines the grade or level of the theft, whether it is a misdemeanor or felony
(3) Belonging to another
(4)without authorization
(5) with the INTENT to permanently deprive the owner
You have to be able to prove each element Beyond a reasonable doubt, not just a few. SO even if you have concrete evidence s in your example a photogram (and that is assuming your photograph would ever be permitted into court as evidence b/c the rules of evidence are another whole story, but each piecce of physical evidence has to be authenticated, proven to be that is what it purports to be. When you have a photograph and it is taken by a police officer during a criminal investigation, then during a motion to supress the evidence (which you can always count on the defense attorney to fiel in an effort to exclude any evidence that is prejudicial to his client. in the above example the polioce officer would be able to testify at the hearing as to the authenticity of the photo. He would be able to say that he toook the photo on such and such day, that there was nothing obstructing his view when he took it, that the camera was functioning properly , it was checked for any date or imaging error s prior to its use and the results of that test were logged and he of course has that log with him in court. And yes he is trained in the field of taking photographs at night or whenever it was at that partivuliar angle and so on and. so on... No it was not raining that day, here I have my notes it was a bright sunny day etc.
"officer what day was the photo taken?"
"Feb 10, 2006
"and today is June 21st?""yes"
where has that photo been between Feb and now how do we know that it has not been tampered with or altered in any way. "b/c as soon as I took the photo on my digital camera I printed it in the presence of oficers a & B, then I I initialed the back of it and dated it, placed it in an acid free phot safe protective sealed bag, put a tag on the bag and again initialed the bag. the bag was then sealed with this red label that cannot be removed w/o a knife. It was then transported the the evidence room and here is a copy of the evidence log showing where i truned i over to sgr. smith a t1.22 p.m, and it has not been checked out for any reason until today, where the log shows that the state and i checked it out for court and the balif escorted us to court with it.
so it is physically impossible that the photo has ever been in anypne's hands but your, yes ! yada yada yada
Cop then takes out knife breaks seal in open court, i.d the photo, then the d.a. ask him "is theis photo in the same or exact condition it was in when you toook it?
ok, does this phot accuratel and faily depict the the image that you took on Fef....

so assuming you can prove all of the other stuff lets get down to #4 a person cannot be charged with a the crime of theft unless what they took belonged to another and was taken without the authority or permission of another. thats easy when you steal a car or shoes from a store. But when you place flyers in a store or habg them on a community college bulliten board, you are implicitly giving your permission for ANYONE to take them, sure you don't want people to take them and throw them in the trash or take them for any reason other than to promote your business, but the bottom line is you don't get to put them out there with that contigency: please take one, hope you will do business with us, DO NOT TKAE IF YOU ARE A HORRIBLE PERSON JUST JEALOUS OF THE COMPETION. It sucks I know , but there is not a prosecutor who would take that theft case. I doubt it would ever be anything more than a misdemeanor anyway, so if you want to see this person go through the humiliation of an arrest (whether or not the case ever gets prosecuted), having to post bond, having name in paper and this being on their criminalk rap sheet forever (even cases tjht are never prosecuted or cases where you are found not guilty remaon on your N.C.I.C sheet, they always show up as an arrest) then go to your local poloce departartment and fill out a complaint and seek an arrest warrant or atleast a warrant to appear.

Your other legal option is the civil area, which has pros and cons. No body goes to jail . Civil court is when one person files suit against aanother fro wrongdoing. The wrongdoingid not criminal, the burden of proof is WAY lower, it is "by a preponderance of the evidence" you pretty much have to show it is morel likely thna no that it happened. What happened? ATort, an intention wrongdping, some torts are just mere negligence IE: a car accident. The downside is that what you have is an INTENTIONAL tort you would have to prove intentional wrongdoing.

The person who is taking business law had it right on the money , she said "the intentional interference with business" there are two actually, one requires a contract, the second is much more broad and does not"intentional intereference with a person's prospective economic advantage" The good thing is that you do not have to prove you were already in business wih someone and the competrion destroyed or ruined it. The compettion did something that ruined a potential economic future relationship you would have had. S your argument would be that b/c she destroyed all of your flyers all future probbale business was jeopodized, damaged, hurt, affected, etc.. I hate to say it but you are still going to run into major problems and the outcome will depend much on where you are b/c the courts are so different everywhere in their application and understanding of the law. Strict conservatist couts read the same law, study the same preceident, same cases and see completely different intents of our founding fathers than a court full of liberals who will take the laws written so very long ago and try to dtermine what ouur founding fathers would have intended and how they would have applied those laws to the facts today in our generation. so who sits on your presiding bench has alot to do with it and whether or not the case would ever make it past go and get to court nad not thrown out first, depend alot on where you are and who will be making that ruling.
Here are the elements you must prove:
(1)You (the plaintiff HAD an economic relationship advatage with a third party

(2)Containing the PROBABILITY of future economic benefit

(3)This advantage was KNOWN by the defendant (person you are suing)

(4)Defendant, the TORTFEASER , through intentional acts of deceiptful designs IE: taking down flyers

(5)intentional acts were done to for purpose of disrupting the advantge you had
(6)Active disruption of a relationship of future business did occur
(7)Must be able to prove actual real monetary damages.

** harder to prove damages in a newer business, b/c in an established business courts can take the average price of whatever the product or service is with other clients

Here is the tricky part: If the tortfeaser (wrongdoer) does not have this pupose, then his conduct does not subject him to liability under these rules of law EVEN IF HIS CONDUCT HAS THE UNINTENTIONAL EFFECT OF DETERING THIRD PARTIES FROM DOING BUSINESS WITH YOUR COMPANY.

IT IS NOT ENOUGH THAT HE WANTED TO PERFORM THE ACT THAT CASUED THE RESULT, MUST INTEND TO CAUSE THE RESULT AS WELL.

That means it is not enough If i intentionally tear down all your flyers,even if i admit that i intended to tear every singe on down, i don't say No> i did not intent to tear those down, or I did not intend to steal tthose, even if I say. Yes I did it. I meant to do it I intended to rip them down, it was not an accident it was not a practical joke I meant to do it. that is NOT enough if I did not intend the resulted casue itself. I had to inend for you to lose business. So if I hate you b/c you are having an affair with my husband and i tear down your flyers and admit to it , you lose I win. Some state go by the "rule of reason analysis"

Your best argument is Free enterprise, fair competetion. Your claim is that b/c of your quality of work, prices, wnd whatever other strong points you have, new to the are, not anyone else quite like you, unique, fresh, innovative. the tortfeasors conduct could not have been anything except intentional b/c any reasonable person klnew or should have known that contracts for future lucrative business would WITH CERTAINTY have been consumated "BUT FOR" the actions of the defendant.
her actions are the proxiamte casue of your damages

YOUR KEY WORDS: KEEP REPEATING "BUT FOR""BUT FOR" ALL OF THIS , YOU WOULD BE RIVH BUT FOR WHAT SHE DID, GET MEMEBRS OF THE COMMUNITY TO COME FORWARD TO SAY THAT IF THIS GOES TO TRIAL , NOW THAT THEY HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE WHAT YOU HAVE TO OFFER THEY WOULD HAVE SIGNED A CONTRACT WITH YOU IN A HEARTBEAT "BUT FOR" THE ACTIONS OF THE DEFENDANT, THEY NEVER SAW YOUR FLYERS. even better if you have peopel that use her serviCE THAT ARE willing to say they want yours now and that "BUT FOR" ACTIONS of her they would have come to you long before