Musser v. Smith

I respectfully dissent. When taken in context with the particular type of business in which Mr. Musser was engaged, the words in the letter are reasonably susceptible to either a defamatory or nondefamato-ry meaning. That is, the words are ambiguous. The trial court was correct in letting the jury decide the effect of the publication upon the ordinary reader.

Where the meaning of the language is “ambiguous and of doubtful import,” the court should submit the question to the jury. Guisti v. Galveston Tribune, 105 Tex. 497, 150 S.W. 874 (1912). Further, the Guisti court held that under such…