Communications Law Commons^™

Libel And Slander-Classification Of Defamatory Broadcasts From A Prepared Script, Robert L. Cardon S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In an action for libel or slander, plaintiff's complaint alleged that defendant, a radio commentator, broadcast from a prepared script a charge that plaintiff was the leader of a movement which favored peace because Germany was losing the war and blamed the United States for killing children in Europe and Asia. Defendant moved to dismiss the complaint; held, that the complaint stated a good cause of action. Since the remarks complained of were not defamatory per se, the court considered the decision as turning on whether they constituted libel or slander and held that they were libelous, distinguishing a …

The Public Utility Concept Of The Press And Radio, Frank Selby Hurst

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Libel And Slander-Charge Of Communism As Libel, Robert L. Cardon

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff a federal official, brought a libel action based on defendant's publication, in 1944, of an article charging that plaintiff had been campaign manager for a Communist candidate in a New York election; had been employed by the Daily Worker; and had caused defendant's removal from a Bronx ration board because of defendant's opposition to left-wing activities connected therewith. Plaintiff contended that the article was libelous in that (1) it charged that he was a Communist; and (2) it charged that he had conspired, in violation of the duties of his office, to oust defendant. Held, the complaint stated …

Libel And Slander - Absolute Privilege - Intergovernmental Communications, Howard A. Jacobs

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's petition to the common council for a masseur's license was referred to the Department of Health. In making their recommendations, defendants, who were connected with the department, submitted the contents of a report, from the department's files, which contained allegedly libelous statements. Held, defendants' communication to the common council was absolutely privileged. Powers v. Vaughn, 312 Mich. 297, 20 N.W. (2d) 196 (1945).

The Associated Press Case

Indiana Law Journal

Notes and Comments: Constitutional Law

Libel And Slander - Absolute Privilege - Affidavit To Support Petition To Set Aside Judgment

Michigan Law Review

Judgment in a case against Dorothy Mann by the administratrix of a certain estate was rendered in April, 1934. Action to vacate this judgment was instituted in September, 1936. In May, 1936, Irving Mann, defendant in the principal case, executed an affidavit which contained libellous matter defaming the present plaintiff; this affidavit was used to support the petition to set aside the earlier judgment. Held, the defamatory affidavit would not support plaintiff's defamation action; the occasion was one of absolute privilege. Schmitt v. Mann, (Ky. 1942) 163 S. W. (2d) 281.

Libel And Slander - Extension Of The Doctrine Of Absolute Privilege To Inferior Executive And Administrative Officials, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

In accordance with the Ohio Constitution, which provides that a copy of proposed amendments shall be distributed to the electorate together with an argument both for and against the proposed amendments, the governor of the state appointed defendant to prepare arguments against certain proposed amendments to the state constitution. The report contained the statement that plaintiff, sponsor of the proposed amendments, was "a paid lobbyist for the single tax movement." Plaintiff brought suit for libel. Held, that since the defendants were members of the commission appointed by the governor acting in the discharge of their official duty, they were …

Protection Against Invasion Of Privacy In Communications: The Olmstead Case Sustained

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Slander Of Title - Nature Of The Action - Statute Of Limitations, Herbert R. Whiting

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought an action to recover damages occasioned by certain letters, alleged to be false and malicious, written by the defendant of and concerning the title to plaintiff's property. Since the letters were written more than one year prior to the commencement of the action, defendant argued that the action was barred by a clause in the local statute of limitations providing that "actions for libel and slander shall be commenced within one year after the cause of action shall have accrued." On the other hand the plaintiff asserted that the case came under the statute's two-year limitation of actions …

Wire-Tapping Evidence Inadmissible Unless Both Parties Consent

Indiana Law Journal

Notes and Comments: Evidence

Libel And Slander - Classification Of Radio Defamation - Liability Of Broadcaster, William F. Hood

Michigan Law Review

The advent of radio has added an interesting problem to the field of defamation. The chief aspects of this problem are twofold: First, should the broadcast of defamatory matter over the air be treated as libel or slander? Second, which of the several parties to a defamatory broadcast should be held responsible?

Council And Court: The Handbill Ordinances, 1889-1939, James K. Lindsay

Michigan Law Review

The extent to which a municipality may regulate or prohibit the distribution of handbills and circulars on its streets and from house to house has been thoroughly considered by the courts in the last two years. These recent cases reveal one phase of a battle historically rich and presently important to the American people. It is the thrust of a principle-the right of free speech and press-against the encroachments of municipal governing bodies concerned with the practical problem of keeping their streets clean. The municipal official sees the problem thus: "One of the small but aggravating nuisances which most cities …

The Right Of Privacy, Louis Nizer

Michigan Law Review

It is only during the last half-century that the law has recognized the "right to be let alone"-the right under certain circumstances to protect one's name and physiognomy from becoming public property.

No mention of such a right will be found in the works of the great political philosophers and tract-writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries-Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Spencer, Paine. In discoursing on "natural rights," "the state of nature," "social contract," and "the inalienable rights of man," they were concerned only with the power of the state to abridge the liberties of the people. Society had not yet …

Libel And Slander - Implied Representation That Plaintiff Consented To Write Her Love Story As Libel Per Se, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff brought an action for libel against defendant for publishing in its magazine a story, which it represented as being written by plaintiff, purporting to relate indiscreet intimacies between plaintiff and a certain man. Defendant admitted the false representation of authorship, but requested a directed verdict after submitting in evidence testimony given by plaintiff in a prior law suit, in which she was said to have admitted intimacies fully as capable of bringing her into disrepute as were those published by defendant. On refusal by the court to direct a verdict, defendant excepted and appealed on the ground that the …

Right Of Privacy-Protection Against Publication Of News-Worthy Information [Sidis V. F-R Publishing Co., C. C. A. 2d, 1940].

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Telegraphs And Telephones-Qualified Privilege Of Telegraph Company To Transmit Defamatory Messages Where Sender Is Not Privileged [O'Brien V. Western Union Telegraph Co., C. C. A. Ist, 1940]

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Social Aspect Of Radio, Eugene Pullman

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Evidence - Federal Communications Act - Admissibility Of Evidence Which Became Accessible By Wire-Tapping, Edmond F. Devine

Michigan Law Review

Petitioners were convicted under a federal indictment for frauds on the revenue. The United States Supreme Court reversed the conviction on the ground it was obtained by use of evidence secured in violation of section 605 of the Communications Act of 1934 by wire-tapping. A new trial resulted in conviction and eventually the Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari to consider the question whether evidence indirectly obtained by that wire-tapping could be admitted despite the first holding. Held, such evidence is inadmissible on the basis that to rule otherwise would largely nullify the doctrine previously laid down. Nardone …

Constitutional Law-Freedom Of Speech And Press-Municipal Ordinances Restricting Distribution Of Printed Matter

Indiana Law Journal

Recent Case Notes

Torts- Death As A Result Of Worry Over Libel-Survival Of Actions - Legal Cause, Edmund R. Blaske

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, administratrix of her husband's estate, brought an action against defendant newspaper to recover damages for the death of her husband, which she claimed resulted from worry over an alleged libel that defendant published. The trial court sustained defendant's demurrer to the declaration and plaintiff appealed. Held, since the "survival statute" does not preserve actions affecting character, the libel abated with the husband's death; and since mental anguish, worry, fear and loss of health are the several results of the wrongful act of libel, they cannot be made the basis of a new cause of action. Judgment for defendant …

Libel And Slander - Charging Physician With Lack Of Skill In Particular Case, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a practicing physician, sued to recover damages for an alleged libel committed when defendant falsely published in its newspaper an article stating that plaintiff examined a prisoner in the city jail, diagnosed his condition as "alcoholic paralysis," and ordered his removal to a city hospital, and that a post mortem disclosed that the prisoner's neck was fractured. Held, that to charge a physician with having made a wrong diagnosis in a particular case is not actionable per se, and since there is no allegation of special damage, there can be no recovery. Blende v. Hearst Publications, Inc., …

Administrative Law - Review Of Administrative Orders - Elimination Of The "Negative" Order Doctrine, Robert J. Miller

Michigan Law Review

The recent decision of the Supreme Court in Rochester Telephone Corporation v. United States is of importance in determining the reviewability of administrative orders that are negative in character. In the principal case, under authority of the Federal Communications Act the Federal Communications Commission issued a general order directing that every telephone carrier file statements concerning its business and affairs. The Rochester Telephone Corporation, the petitioner, failed to file such statements, claiming it was not subject to the commission's jurisdiction because of an exemption under section 2(b) (2) of the Communications Act of 1934. This section provides that the commission …

Torts - Right Of Privacy - Radio Broadcasting, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a chauffeur, had been the victim of a hold-up and shooting, suffering serious injury. Defendant sponsored a radio broadcast in which plaintiff's name was used dramatizing the affair. On hearing the broadcast, plaintiff sued in tort alleging that he suffered mental anguish and physical shock which resulted in impairing his ability to drive and caused him to be discharged from his job. Held, defendant's motion to dismiss denied, as plaintiff had stated a cause of action for invasion of a right of privacy. Mau v. Rio Grande Oil, Inc., (D. C. Cal. 1939) 28 F. Supp. 845.

Subjective Judicial Review Of The Federal Communications Commission, Harry P. Warner

Michigan Law Review

The basis for judicial review of administrative agencies in one form or another is the Union Pacific rule, originally developed to govern the relationship between the courts and the Interstate Commerce Commission. Variations in the application of this judicial formula to different agencies have been shaped for the most part by the character of the governmental power exercised and the nature of the subject matter under review. For example, the judicial control exercised over taxing authorities is circumscribed by the sovereign demand for revenue essential to the maintenance of government. The scope of judicial review has been extended in deportation …

Libel And Slander - Absolute Immunity Under Statute, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The Board of Regents of the Colored Agricultural and Normal University of Oklahoma, charged with the statutory duty of governing the university "in all its interests," directed the defendant, president of the university, to report to the board "any misconduct" or "any irregularity" on the part of any "teacher or employee of the University." At a regular session of the board the defendant made an oral statement to the board, imputing moral misconduct to the plaintiff, who was then employed as a matron at said university. Held, in making said statement the defendant was acting "in the proper discharge …

Libel And Slander - Privilege - Liability Of A Telegraph Company For Transmtiting A Libelous Message, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Defendant telegraph company transmitted to ten officers of an international union a telegram from members of a local union. The contents related to labor affairs and were admittedly libelous per se as to the plaintiff, naming him as "responsible for the murder of our brother officer Borson." Held, verdict for plaintiff set aside and new trial ordered, because plaintiff has failed to justify recovery by furnishing evidence of actual malice or bad faith by the defendant. Klein v. Western Union Tel Co., 257 App. Div. 336, 13 N. Y. S. (2d) 441 (1939), appeal withdrawn, (N. Y. 1939) …

Criminal Law--Indictment--Allegation Of Knowledge, W. J. C.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Libel And Slander - Privileged Reports Of Public Proceedings - Confession To Prosecuting Attorney Implicating Plaintiff, James D. Ritchie

Michigan Law Review

Defendant published in its newspaper the contents of confessions made to a prosecuting attorney by third parties, implicating plaintiff in crimes for which he had been indicted but the commission of which he denied. In an action for damages for libel, held, that the taking of the confession was neither a judicial proceeding nor an official proceeding authorized by law, and therefore its publication was not privileged. Caller Times Publishing Co. v. Chandler, (Tex. 1939) 130 S. W. (2d) 853.

Libel And Slander - Limitation Of Actions -Tolling The Bar Of Statute Of Limitations By Subsequent Sale Of The Libellous Matter, John H. Pickering

Michigan Law Review

On April 25, 1938, plaintiff commenced suit for libel. Nine separate causes of action were set up by alleging nine different publications in successive issues of Liberty Magazine. The first publication was alleged to have occurred on or about April 17, 1937, the second on or about April 24, 1937, and the third on or about May 1, 1937. Defendant showed by affidavit that the issues were placed on sale ten days before the date printed on the cover so that the first issue was on sale by April 7, 1937, the second on April 14, 1937 and the third …

Notes On Practice Before The Federal Communications Commission, Herbert M. Bingham

Michigan Law Review

It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the broadcast license practice and procedure before the Federal Communications Commission as it exists today. No attempt at criticism or suggestions for reform will be made.