Tappan v. Beardsley
Supreme Court of the United States
In error to the Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York; the ease being this: John Beardsley and Horace Beardsley, merchants of Nor-walk, Huron County, Ohio, brought an action in the court below against Lewis Tappan, of New York, for a libel. . Tappan was the proprietor of what is now generally known as a “ Mercantile Agency,” the purpose of which is to collect information of the standing, character, and credit of merchants all over the country, and to…
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In error to the Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York; the ease being this: John Beardsley and Horace Beardsley, merchants of Nor-walk, Huron County, Ohio, brought an action in the court below against Lewis Tappan, of New York, for a libel. . Tappan was the proprietor of what is now generally known as a “ Mercantile Agency,” the purpose of which is to collect information of the standing, character, and credit of merchants all over the country, and to communicate such' infoi’mation for reward to the business houses who may need it in their dealings with the former. And it was a…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Miller
delivered the opiuion of the court.
In the admission of evidence we are of opinion that the court committed an error that must have contributed very largely to swell the amount of the verdict, which, without such testimony, was perhaps unusually and unjustifiably large, and might possibly have been for the defendant.
The error referred to was in the introduction of the record of the suit for divorce. The record thus read to the jury consisted of the petition of the wife of Beardsley for divorce', the answer of Beardsley, the depositions of several witnesses taken by Beardsley in that suit, and…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Marine Ins. Co. of Alexandria v. HodgsonSupreme Court of the United States · 1810
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- Insul-Wool Insulation Corp. v. Home Insulation, Inc.Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · 1949
- Mid-City Bank & Trust Co. v. Reading Co.District Court, D. New Jersey · 1944
- In re Alphin & Lake Cotton Co.District Court, E.D. Arkansas · 1904
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