Nearis v. Essex County Newspapers, Inc.

This is an appeal from an order sustaining a demurrer to a declaration in tort for libel. It appears from the declaration that the plaintiff, an attorney, was imprisoned for contempt of court in connection with a support proceeding in which he was the respondent. The plaintiff argues that he was defamed by a series of newspaper articles describing a habeas corpus proceeding which he later initiated to secure his release. We are of the opinion that the articles in question, copies of which are appended to the declaration, are not reasonably capable of a defamatory meaning and that the demurrer…