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Unfair Competition - Truthful Disparagement Of A Trader's Reputation, W. Wallace Kent

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff sued for treble damages under the Anti-Trust Act, alleging that the defendants had conspired and combined to drive him out of the securities business. Plaintiff alleged that to accomplish their purpose the defendants published statements as to plaintiff's "criminal record." The facts are not clear, but it appears from the report that the crimes in question were committed twenty years previously, during plaintiff's youth. The trial court instructed the jury that "if that information was true [as to plaintiff's criminal record], the Better Business Bureau, regardless of its purpose in disseminating the information, would not be liable, is not …