Torts Commons^™

The Maryland Court Of Appeals: State Defamation Law In The Wake Of Gertz V. Robert Welch, Inc.

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

State Court Reactions To Gertz V. Robert Welch,Inc.: Inconsistent Results And Reasoning, Charles W. Gerdts, Iii, Kevin J. Wolff

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Recent Development will examine the state court reactions to Gertz, describe the reasons for the lack of uniformity in their conclusions, and suggest an approach to balancing the first amendment and reputational interests.

Revitalizing The Clear-And-Present-Danger Test: Toward A Principled Interpretation Of The First Amendment, Jeffrey M. Shaman

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Tort Liability Of A University For Libelous Material In Student Publications, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

While attention will occasionally be drawn to the impact of the New York Times privilege, this Note largely assumes that a defamed plaintiff is capable of overcoming the constitutional barriers imposed by New York Times and its progeny. In other words, the assumption is made that libelous statements either fall outside the constitutional privilege or that the plaintiff can demonstrate actual malice in the student authors or editors. The Note will analyze the traditional theories which may be invoked to establish the university's liability for defamatory material in student publications. First, a range of student newspaper-university relationships will be examined …

Variation On Libel Per Quod, Laurence H. Eldredge

Vanderbilt Law Review

During the nineteenth century it became settled common law in England and in the United States that in any action for libel, as distinct from slander, the plaintiff could recover damages without pleading or proving that he had in fact suffered any damages as a result of the publication. The American Law Institute accepted this as sound law. Volume III of the Restatement of Torts, published in 1938, stated the rule in section 569: "One who falsely, and without a privilege to do so, publishes matter defamatory to another in such a manner as to make the publication a libel …

Master's Defamation Of His Servant, Charles A. Caruso

Cleveland State Law Review

The question now arises, as it does so frequently when one right must be held in balance against another, is one's right to unconditionally utter any statement he so wishes subservient to another's right to a reputation free from the impairments of defamation? The question has lost its youth along with the First Amendment of the United States Constitution; yet the decisions and authority, as to which right is the more fundamental and which should be subrogated to which, are still widely divided.

Libelous Ridicule By Journalists, James M. Naughton, Eric R. Gilbertson

Cleveland State Law Review

Proof of actual malice, or even establishing that an attack in ridicule bears no relation to public conduct, seems at best, extremely difficult to bring out. The public interest in protecting itself, through criticism of those in prominence, weighs much more heavily on the scales of justice than does the interest of public figures in protecting themselves from personal attack. So go ahead and draw your cartoons, Conrad. Keep sticking pins in the kewpie dolls of America, Art Buchwald. And tell it like it is, Pogo.

How Far May Newspapers Go In Criticizing, Richard Szilagyi

Cleveland State Law Review

Any written or printed article which is false and is conveyed by publication to third parties is defamatory or "libelous." That is, it is actionable if it tends to subject the plaintiff to hatred, scorn, ridicule, public contempt or disgrace; or if it induces a substantial number of respectable community members to avoid, shun, or deprive him of their friendly association, even though the defamation imputes no moral turpitude to him. Despite a long history of judicial decisions and numerous discussions and writings by the legal profession, there are few areas of the law so unsettled as the law of …

Defamation Privilege In Internal Affairs Of Religious Societies, Howard A. Shelley Jr.

Cleveland State Law Review

Defamation privilege in religious societies is burdened in interpretation by the strong doctrine of separation of church and state coupled with the courts' reluctance to become involved in the internal affairs of private associations. That over the years this has resulted in establishment of a philosophy regarding defamation privilege in church controversies broader in scope than that available even to other private associations is apparent.

Defamation During Congressional Investigations: A Proposed Statute, J. Dennis Hynes

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Problem Of Group Defamation, Tom C. Clark

Cleveland State Law Review

It is my hope that the work of this symposium will contribute much to an understanding of the problems of group libel. But we cannot expect the judicial process to control such utterances. Heads get too hot and evil is too rampant. The final control must await the elimination of the three I's of this evil: Intolerance, Ignorance and Ignobility. They can be destroyed. They are not the inevitable results of increased social intercourse. They are not inherited- they are acquired. They cannot be legislated or decreed into the hearts and minds of men. It is for us- in the …

Group Defamation In The U. S. A., James Jay Brown, Carl L. Stern

Cleveland State Law Review

The difficulties faced by the group defamation victim are obvious on paper and terrifying in reality. In merely defending his reputation, he is confronted by unprovable issues and, as will be pointed out, is bludgeoned in court by a history of "rational-reasonable" civil and criminal precedents. A brief outline of this paradox is set out here, but the question still remains whether the civil-common law or our legislatures have an answer to this unbelievable legal .

Group Defamation In France, Jean Peytel

Cleveland State Law Review

It cannot be said that there is any French legislation which specifically protects citizens of any particular ethnic origin or creed. For instance, there is no law that shelters members of a particular religious faith from group defamation. The absence of legislative texts in this connection is explicable by the tradition rooted in the French psyche, born out of the French Revolution, that frowns upon racial discrimination and religious intolerance.

Syposium Conclusion, Pieter J. Hoets

Cleveland State Law Review

Tort liability, based on modern medical understanding of the very real injury to an individual member of a defamed group, probably is the readiest and best preventive of abuse of the right of free speech until sound legislation is adopted. But we need both criminal and civil law. In the last analysis all legislation deals with morality-legislates morality. The law serves not only to regulate but also to educate, elevate, and dignify. It must deal with group defamation now. We must have law that will protect us from the sick and evil souls who poison our society with hatreds.

The Individual Member's Right To Recover For A Defamation Leveled At The Group, Mason C. Lewis

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defamation And The Right Of Privacy, John W. Wade

Vanderbilt Law Review

The history of the two torts of defamation and unwarranted invasion of the right of privacy has been greatly different. Defamation developed over a period of many centuries, with the twin torts of libel and slander having completely separate origins and historical growth. Professor Street summarizes this history by declaring that there was "a perversion of evolutionary processes," with the result that there was produced "a rather heterogeneous pile which should normally have gone to form a consistent body of legal doctrine, but which on the contrary, comprises many disconnected fragments moving in a confused way under the impulse of …

Torts-Libel-Constitutionality Of Retraction Statute Eliminating General Damages Recovery, John W. Galanis

Michigan Law Review

Following publication of allegedly libelous statements made by defendants during a televised news broadcast, plaintiff commenced an action to recover damages. Defendants' motion to strike the allegations of general and punitive damages was granted by the trial court since the complaint did not allege that defendants intended to defame plaintiff, or that defendants refused to publish a requested retraction of a non-intentional libel, both of which are conditions precedent to recovery of such damages under the Oregon statute. Plaintiff failed to plead further and judgment was entered for defendants. On appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court, held, affirmed. The …

Clergymen's Interference With Private Rights, Robert B. Dunsmore

Cleveland State Law Review

If a clergyman is to be granted complete immunity to say whatever he believes, or to take any action which he believes best for his church or his congregation, then eventually either our concept of separation of church and state will be destroyed or else by the very weight of the immunities and the inequities resulting therefrom the qualified privilege of the clergyman will be destroyed. The real question is not whether such a privilege exists or should exist, but at what point does the interference with the rights of the individual become so great as to be actionable. This …

Libel Per Se And Special Damages, Alfred H. Knight Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

Toward the end of the last century a few of the American courts began to express the view that allegation and proof of special damages is necessary in libel actions unless the defamatory meaning of the words is apparent on their face.' Although none of these courts appeared to realize it, this notion was entirely of their own invention. Under the orthodox theory, which went virtually unquestioned in the century preceding these decisions, all written defamation is actionable without proof of special damages, whether it is designated libel per se or libel per quod. Words which are defamatory on their …

Extension Of Absolute Privilege To Executive Officers Of Government Agencies - Barr V. Matteo, Jon F. Oster

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torts - Libel And Slander - Absolute Privilege For Press Release Of Lower Federal Officer, James S. Leigh S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Respondents, former employees of the Office of Rent Stabilization, brought a libel action against petitioner, the acting director of the office. The alleged libel was contained in a press release issued by petitioner in which he announced his intention to suspend respondents because of acts for which the office had been severely criticized by the Senate and press. The district court instructed the jury to find for plaintiffs if the release was defamatory. On appeal from judgment for plaintiff, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed. On certiorari, the United States Supreme Court remanded for consideration of …

Torts - Libel And Slander, Norman A. Crandell

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Torts - Libel And Slander - Effect Of An Unsustained Plea Of Truth, Frank D. Jacobs

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, superintendent of a state training school for boys, was removed from that office by his superior in the state department of social welfare. The defendant corporation, publisher and owner of two newspapers in the state, published certain articles in its newspapers relating to plaintiff's conduct in office, his management of the school, and his removal from office. Plaintiff brought action of libel. Defendant, in addition to a plea of general issue, filed a plea of truth. The trial court instructed the jury that where truth is pleaded as a defense, but is not successful, such plea will sustain an …

Torts - Privacy - Collection Method, Frederic Brace S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff disputed the debt which the defendant corporation asserted against her. Defendant made no attempt to recover this asserted debt by legal action but instead sent a letter to the personnel director of plaintiff's employer. This letter stated that plaintiff had refused to cooperate in reaching an amicable settlement and requested the assistance of the personnel director in collecting this "honest debt." Plaintiff was then summoned to the office of her superior and informed that the letter would be placed in her file and remain there until the asserted indebtedness had been settled. Plaintiff sought damages for an invasion of …

Torts - Libel And Slander - Calling A Person A Communist As Slader Per Se, Ross Kipka S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

In an action for slander, plaintiff alleged that on three separate occasions defendant had orally called or referred to plaintiff as a communist. The court rendered judgment against the defendant, holding that calling a person a communist is slander per se. On appeal, held, affirmed. Since membership in the Communist Party is a felony under Pennsylvania statute, falsely referring to a person as being a communist is slander per se. Solosko v. Paxton, (Pa. 1956) 119 A. (2d) 230.

Interstate Publication, William L. Prosser

Michigan Law Review

It is an amazing and a sobering thought that by the utterance of a single ill-considered word a man may today commit forty-nine separate torts, for each of which he may be severally liable, in as many jurisdictions within the continental limits of the United States alone, and without regard to any additional liability he may incur in the possessions and territories and in foreign countries. It calls to mind at once in all solemnity those first words that ever were sent over an interstate wire, and later to the moon. What, indeed, hath God wrought!

Little less astonishing, although …

Torts-Invasion Of Right Of Privacy By Postcard Advertising, James S. Taylor

Michigan Law Review

To promote the sale of merchandise, defendant retail clothing store mailed a series of postcards to prospective customers, one of which was the plaintiff. The cards, in feminine handwriting, read, ''Please call WAbash 1943 and ask for Carolyn." Upon reading this the plaintiff's wife, who had intercepted the card, concluded that her husband was having a clandestine love affair with another woman, and when the plaintiff was unable to explain "Carolyn," she left him. Subsequent inquiry revealed that "Carolyn" was one of the defendant's employees and that the card was an advertising stunt Plaintiff filed suit on the theory that …

Defamation--Retraction--A Bill That Didn't Pass, Diane Louise Mckaig

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Privilege And Mitigation Of Damages In Defamation In Kentucky, Rosanna A. Blake

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Defamation And Radio, Donald G. Graham

Washington Law Review

Radio has opened up a new and larger opportunity for defamation than has ever existed before. There are licensed today in the United States 683 broadcasting stations scattered throughout the country. Newspapers are fairly closely owned and do not open their columns generally to the public. Radio stations, on the other hand, broadcast the message not only of those who lease their facilities, but they also carry the messages of men of public affairs and public officials, for which unsponsored broadcasting they receive no commercial return. Speeches of a timely and informative nature delivered before an audience are frequently broadcast …