Economopoulos v. A. G. Pollard Co.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort against a corporation maintaining a department store in Lowell, the declaration alleging in the first and second counts that servants and agents of the defendant assaulted and illegally detained the plaintiff, and in a third count that they falsely and maliciously charged the plaintiff with the crime of larceny, saying, “You have stolen a handkerchief from us, and have it in your pocket.”
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Tort against a corporation maintaining a department store in Lowell, the declaration alleging in the first and second counts that servants and agents of the defendant assaulted and illegally detained the plaintiff, and in a third count that they falsely and maliciously charged the plaintiff with the crime of larceny, saying, “You have stolen a handkerchief from us, and have it in your pocket.” Writ dated December 15, 1911. In the Superior Court the case was tried before McLaughlin, J. The testimony of the plaintiff, who could understand or talk little if any English, was as follows upon the…
1Opinion of the CourtLoring, J.
We do not find it necessary to decide whether the two statements relied on by the plaintiff could have been found to be accusations of larceny. If it be assumed that such a finding could have been made, the judge was right in directing the jury to find a verdict for the defendant because there was no evidence of publication of either of them. See Downs v. Hawley, 112 Mass. 237; Rumney v. Worthley, 186 Mass. 144. There was no evidence that anybody but the plaintiff was present when Carrier spoke to the plaintiff in English. There was no publication of this statement made in English, because on…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Downs v. HawleyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1873
- Rumney v. WorthleyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1904
- Kane v. Boston Mutual Life InsuranceMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1908
3Cited by7 opinions
- Bander v. Metropolitan Life InsuranceMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1943
- Phelan v. May Department Stores Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 2004
- Arsenault v. Allegheny Airlines, Inc.District Court, D. Massachusetts · 1980
- Mills v. W. T. Grant Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1919
- Riceman v. Union Indemnity Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1932
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