Hardwick v. Houston Lighting & Power Co.

OPINION

NUCHIA, Justice.

Appellee, Houston Lighting & Power Co. (HL&P), discharged appellant, Raymond Hardwick, after saltwater infiltrated a boiler system Hardwick monitored. In this appeal, we are asked to determine if HL&P established as a matter of law an affirmative defense to Hardwick’s cause of action for slander. The trial court rendered summary judgment for HL&P. In point of error one, Hardwick contends summary judgment was improper because the “doctrine of literal truth” as upheld by the trial court overthrows the standard of defamatory import as understood by the ordinary man. We…