Cochran v. Melendy
Wisconsin Supreme Court
APPEAL from the Circuit Court for Milwaukee County. The action, is to recover damages for an alleged libel written and published by the defendant of and concerning the plaintiff. This appeal is by the defendant from an order overruling a general demurrer to the complaint.
Read the full summary
APPEAL from the Circuit Court for Milwaukee County. The action, is to recover damages for an alleged libel written and published by the defendant of and concerning the plaintiff. This appeal is by the defendant from an order overruling a general demurrer to the complaint. The publication complained of is a letter addressed by the defendant to John Bailey, Esq., the foreman in the car-shops of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, at Milwaukee, in which shops the plaintiff had theretofore been employed as a mechanic for four years, and until August 1, 1881. S. S. Merrill, named in…
1Opinion of the CourtLyon, J.
For the purposes of the demurrer the language of the letter upon which the action is predicated must be understood in its ordinary and usual signification, and must be interpreted as men, knowing all the circumstances, would generally understand it. Weil v. Schmidt, 28 Wis., 139. Tested by this rule, we cannot doubt the letter prima fade imports a charge of embezzlement against the plaintiff in *209respect to the tools therein mentioned, and would be so understood by most people. In the form of an interrogatory the defendant in his letter refers to the fact that the plaintiff had theretofore…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Servatius v. PichelWisconsin Supreme Court · 1874
3Cited by2 opinions
- Pfister v. Milwaukee Free Press Co.Wisconsin Supreme Court · 1909
- Keeley v. Great Northern Railway Co.Wisconsin Supreme Court · 1914