Smith v. Stewart
Supreme Court of Minnesota
Action to recover $50,000 damages for libel, brought in the district court for Hennepin county. The publication complained of was a card written and signed by defendant, and procured by him to be inserted in a Minneapolis newspaper, charging plaintiff (a nurseryman, furnishing and setting out young trees) with setting out trees for defendant in a grossly careless, unskilful, and bungling manner, and with stealing sods from defendant’s land, and styling him “an irresponsible,…
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Action to recover $50,000 damages for libel, brought in the district court for Hennepin county. The publication complained of was a card written and signed by defendant, and procured by him to be inserted in a Minneapolis newspaper, charging plaintiff (a nurseryman, furnishing and setting out young trees) with setting out trees for defendant in a grossly careless, unskilful, and bungling manner, and with stealing sods from defendant’s land, and styling him “an irresponsible, unadulterated, first-class humbug and fraud.” At the trial, before Hicks, J., the plaintiff had a verdict of $300. The…
1Opinion of the CourtMitchell, J.
We have examined all of appellant’s 19 assignments of error, and find them either unsupported by the record or so devoid of merit that, in our opinion, only one of them requires any special consideration. The publication constituting the alleged libel was clearly defamatory on its face, without ambiguity, and incapable of an innocent meaning; and the case was free from any evidence tending to change the natural meaning of the words. On the contrary, the defendant, who justified by alleging the truth of the publication, in his answer repeated and amplified the charges against the plaintiff,…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Hunt v. . BennettNew York Court of Appeals · 1859
- Gabe v. McGinnisIndiana Supreme Court · 1879
- Gottbehuet v. HubachekWisconsin Supreme Court · 1875
- Gregory v. AtkinsSupreme Court of Vermont · 1869
- Pugh v. McCartySupreme Court of Georgia · 1871
3Cited by7 opinions
- Dowie v. PriddleIllinois Supreme Court · 1905
- Sharpe v. LarsonSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1897
- Bodine v. Times-Journal Pub. Co.Supreme Court of Oklahoma · 1910
- Trebby v. Transcript Publishing Co.Supreme Court of Minnesota · 1898
- Ramharter v. OlsonSouth Dakota Supreme Court · 1910
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