Stewart v. Hall, &C.
Decision Date | 14 November 1885 |
Citation | 83 Ky. 375 |
Parties | Stewart v. Hall, &c. |
Court | Kentucky Court of Appeals |
APPEAL FROM JEFFERSON CIRCUIT COURT.
M. A. & D. A. SACHS FOR APPELLANT.
WALTER EVANS FOR APPELLEES.
JUDGE HOLT DELIVERED THE OPINION OF THE COURT.
The property of the Jeffersonville and Fifteenth Street Christian Church, in Louisville, having been sold for the payment of certain liens, there remained after their payment a considerable fund, which was claimed by each of the two parties then existing by reason of a division in the church. An action was brought in the Louisville Chancery Court of the style of Smith, &c., v. Hagerman, &c., to settle the right to it. The prime cause of the division was the election of the appellant, W. W. Stewart, to an eldership in the church, and his subsequent removal upon the alleged ground that he was "not of good report." It was claimed by the Stewart or "Hagerman party," that the "Hall-Skene party" had, by the adoption of what the former denominated "a creed," dissolved their relation with the church, as it recognized no guide in religious matters save the Bible. Upon the other hand, the Hall-Skene party said that they had only adopted rules of church discipline, and that the other party had voluntarily abandoned the church, owing to its action as to Stewart. The question of whether a "schism" existed within the meaning of the statute, which regulates the property rights of the parties in such a case, was involved, and each side, therefore, proceeded to take testimony as to the division, and the causes which had led to it. The deposition of the appellant, Stewart, was taken upon the part of the defendants, he testifying at length as to the matters involved, and upon his cross-examination a printed article, which reads thus, and which had been published in the Christian Standard or the American Christian Review, or perhaps in both, was presented to him, and he was asked by the appellee Evans, who was the counsel for the plaintiffs in the suit (the appellees, Hall and Skene, who were plaintiffs in the suit, also being present), whether he was the same person named in it, and he was then examined as to the matters mentioned in it:
It is the practice, and perhaps a rule, of the court in which the suit was pending to require the parties to file briefs before the hearing, and the case having been argued, the appellee Evans' argument was printed by and at the cost of one who was interested in the case, but is not a party to this action, and filed as the brief in the case. In the discussion he had referred to and quoted said printed article, it being then a part of the testimony (although subsequently, and by the final judgment, it was stricken out of the record, and excluded as incompetent evidence), and hence it was re-published in the brief.
The appellant, Stewart, then brought this action for libel against the appellees, E. G. Hall, Wm. Skene and Walter Evans, basing it both upon the publication by them of said article when his deposition was taken and the printing of it in the brief.
The appellees denied that they were actuated by malice toward the appellant, and in their answers set forth in detail the circumstances of the publication; that they acted in good faith, and believed, even if it were not, that the alleged libel was pertinent, and material evidence for them.
Malice not being implied from the publication, owing to the occasion and circumstances under which it was made, the appellant attempted to show express malice upon the part of the appellees toward him, by proving what had taken place or been said by them in the business or regular governmental meetings of the church. This evidence, however, only tended to show that two of the appellees had been present at said meetings, and that one, or perhaps both, of them had taken a part in the discussion relating to the appellant as an elder, and in deposing him from his office; and at the close of the plaintiff's testimony the court, upon the motion of the defendants, instructed the jury to find...
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