Hodgson v. News Syndicate Co.

This is a motion by a defendant in a libel action to examine the plaintiff before trial on the separate defenses. The plaintiff is almost seventy years old. The custom appears to have grown up in recent years of including in defenses of “ fair report judicial proceedings,” or fair comment on them, matters which are not pertinent to the alleged libel. The effect of the method is to aggravate and broaden the charge which forms the basis of the libel by adding to it under cover of the answer, and thus many matters not included in the original publication are brought into the case.

The complaint…