Christianson v. O'Neil

The plaintiff sues to recover damages for slander. The words constituting the alleged slander are: “I want that gas radiator returned to me at once and if you don’t I will have you arrested and behind the bars before sundown. The radiator belongs to me and you stole it from my place. You are a thief and a skin.” As a defense in justification, the answer alleges that the plaintiff, some time prior to the date of the alleged slander, had been a tenant of a loft belonging to the defendant; that when the plaintiff vacated the loft, he “ wrongfully removed and took away from said premises a gas…