Crane v. New York World-Telegram Corp.

In an action for libel, based upon the defendants’ publishing of plaintiff that he was “ now under indictment ”, when in fact he had never been indicted by a grand jury, defendants appeal from so much of an order as strikes out, pursuant to rules 103 and 109 of the Rules of Civil Practice, the complete and partial defenses alleged in their amended answer. The complete defense pleads justification, in that plaintiff was under “indictment”, in the lay sense of the word, since he had been accused of various crimes by different individuals and was in fact guilty of larceny, bribery and perjury.…