Roper Ex Rel. Roper v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.

HOOD, Associate Judge.

Appellant, a young girl, through her father as next friend, sued the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company for an allegedly slanderous statement made by one of its store managers. At the close of her case the trial court granted A & P’s motion for a directed verdict on the ground that the manager’s words were not slanderous per se and no pecuniary damage had been proved.

The evidence was that one evening plaintiff went with her father, mother and grandmother to an A & P store where the family had traded for over two years. As the family shopped, plaintiff, who was then…