Bartow v. Smith

Obviously the theory upon which the trial court dismissed the plaintiff’s amended petition is that spoken words are not slander per se, unless they impute a crime, subject a person to disgrace, ridicule, odium ’ or contempt in the estimation of friends or acquaintances or the public, impute to a person an infectious disease likely to exclude him from society, impute the unfitness of one to perform the duties of an office or employment, or tend to prejudice him in his profession or trade; and that an action for slander per quod does not lie unless special damages are pleaded.^

The Court of…