Lewis v. Chapman
New York Supreme Court
MOTION by the defendant for a new trial, upon a case. The action was for the publication of a libel in the following words, contained in a postscript to a letter from Sisson & Chapman to Cromwell, Haight & Co.: “ Confidential. Had'to hold over a few days, for the accommodation of L. & H.” Sisson & Chapman were bankers, at Lyons, and the plaintiffs were merchant tailors, residing at the same place.
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MOTION by the defendant for a new trial, upon a case. The action was for the publication of a libel in the following words, contained in a postscript to a letter from Sisson & Chapman to Cromwell, Haight & Co.: “ Confidential. Had'to hold over a few days, for the accommodation of L. & H.” Sisson & Chapman were bankers, at Lyons, and the plaintiffs were merchant tailors, residing at the same place. Cromwell, Haight &. Co., merchants in New York, had forwarded to Sisson &• Chapman, for collection, a note for $100, made by Lewis & Herrick, for goods purchased, and due April 19,1851. The letter,…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court,
Johnson, P. J.
The plaintiffs were engaged in a business in which credit and a character for punctuality were essential, and it is obvious that a communication to their creditors, with whom they were in a habit of dealing, like the one contained in the postscript to the defendant’s letter, was calculated to affect injuriously their character and credit as business men ; and if false, it was libelous. The judge therefore properly refused to nonsuit the plaintiffs, and his charge to the jury was in this respect free from objection. The question of the truth or falsity of the…
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