King v. McKissick

• Decision Date: 07 December 1903
• Docket Number: 763.
• Citation: King v. McKissick, 126 F. 215 (D. Nev. 1903)
• Parties: KING v. McKISSICK.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Nevada

126 F. 215

KING v. McKISSICK.

No. 763.

United States Circuit Court, D. Nevada.

December 7, 1903

This is an action to recover damages for an alleged libelous publication.The substance of the allegations in the complaint is that plaintiff is an attorney at law in active practice, and has conducted and demeaned himself in his profession with fidelity, and that he is an honest, truthful and law-abiding citizen; that the defendant, who is the widow of B. H. McKissick, deceased, on April 30, 1903, in the district court of Washoe county, filed a verified petition upon which she made an application in the matter of the estate of said deceased for the perpetuation of the testimony of T. V. Julien, from which it appears that B. H. McKissick died intestate on the 24th day of February, 1903, leaving petitioner and three minor children surviving him; that petitioner is the widow of said B. H. McKissick, and the mother of the minor children.It also appears that B. H McKissick, deceased, was a nephew of, and a residuary devisee under the will of, Jacob McKissick, deceased; that on the 22nd day of September, 1900, the said Jacob McKissick died testate in Reno, Nev., leaving an estate consisting of real and personal property; that on the 2nd day of October, 1900 the will of Jacob McKissick, deceased, with a petition for its probate, was filed, and under proceedings therein taken on the 18th day of October the court, by its decree, admitted the will to probate as the last will and testament of Jacob McKissick, deceased, and appointed the said B. H. McKissick now deceased, the executor thereof; that thereafter the said B. H. McKissick qualified as such executor, and fully discharged the duties of his trust, and, under proceedings, the court, by its decree, distributed to B. H. McKissick, deceased, all of the estate of Jacob McKissick, deceased, that should remain after the payment of certain legacies, and was discharged of his trust, the same being fully administered.And the petitioner, upon information and belief alleges, 'that your petitioner, as an heir at law and as administratrix of the estate of B. H. McKissick, deceased, is now threatened with a suit by Jonathan J. McKissick; * * * that said named parties, through the false, fraudulent, and malicious representations of one F. D. King, now claim and assert some claim to the property distributed to B. H. McKissick, deceased, by the said Second Judicial District Court in the matter of the estate of Jacob McKissick, deceased; that said claim or claims made by the parties are false and fraudulent and without right, and are made and urged for the sole purpose of annoying and harassing your petitioner, and to extort money from the heirs of B. H. McKissick, deceased; that said action, if brought, will be brought against your petitioner and her said minor children by the above-named claimants, and by others whose names are at present unknown to your petitioner, upon the said false and fraudulent claim or claims as aforesaid, and will involve the title to all the property devised to the said B. H. McKissick, deceased, by the said Jacob McKissick, deceased, the said property being situated in this state and in the state of California, and now belongs to your petitioner and her said minor children as heirs at law of the said B. H. McKissick, deceased. ' The complaint further alleges that afterwards, on the 2nd day of May, 1903, the defendant, by and through her attorney, James T. Boyd, caused to be published in the Daily Nevada State Journal, a daily newspaper printed and published in the city of Reno, county of Washoe, state of Nevada, a false and malicious libel of and concerning the plaintiff, as follows, to wit: The heading of this article is, 'Important Order Made--District Court Takes Interesting Action in McKissick Estate;' and then it virtually copies that portion of the petition of Mrs. McKissick which alleges that the claims were asserted 'through the false, fraudulent, and malicious representatives of one F. D. King,' as above set forth, 'and that said matters are false and defamatory, and were wholly irrelevant and improper, impertinent and immaterial to be alleged in said petition or to be published in said paper, and were improper, false, and malicious, and were inserted, written, and...