Cresson v. Dispatch Printing Co.

BOOTH, District Judge.

The discussion on this motion has taken wide range, but’the vital questions involved are few in number. It is not disputed that the report of the special committee of the House of Representatives was itself an absolutely privileged communication, and this is true, even though it contained false statements charging plaintiff with crime, and even though the statements were made with malice.

It cannot be disputed that newspaper accounts of the report and comments thereon may have a qualified or conditional privilege. The conditions are (1) that the accounts and comments be…