Kuhn v. Young

• Court: Texas Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Stayton
• Citation: 14 S.W. 796
• Parties: KUHN v. YOUNG <I>et al.</I&gt
• Decision Date: 07 November 1890

14 S.W. 796 KUHN
v.
YOUNG et al. Supreme Court of Texas. November 7, 1890.

Appeal from district court, Bowie county; JOHN L. SHEPPARD, Judge.

F. M. Henry and Henry & Henry, for appellant. Talbot & Turner, for appellees.

STAYTON, C. J.

This cause was before this court at a former term, and is reported in 71 Tex. 645, 9 S. W. Rep. 860. On the last trial, the cause stood on the same petition on which it was formerly tried. The answer on which the last trial was had, seems to be the same substantially as it was on the former trial. The action is to recover damages on account of a publication alleged to have been made by defendants wherein appellant, a butcher, was charged with slaughtering and selling to his customers diseased and unwholesome meats. A copy of the article published and claimed to be libelous was made a part of the petition, and the answer alleged that "such and every charge made by them against the plaintiff in the alleged libelous articles complained of by him, is true, and was written and published by them without malice, and for the sole purpose of informing the public of the true facts as they existed." It is urged that the court erred in overruling exceptions of plaintiff to so much of the defendant's answer as set up the truth of the charges made the basis of the action. We do not find the exceptions in the record, but do

Page 797

find an order of the court overruling them, which indicates that the ground of the exception was that the answer did not state with sufficient certainty the facts which the answer alleged to be true. We understand the rule to be, if the charge made the basis of the action be specific, that the answer need only allege that the charge is true. The article alleged to have been published, and copied in the petition, stated that the writer of the article had been informed that the plaintiff was buying cattle injured in transportation, and butchering them and serving their meat to his customers; and it then went on to state that, "to satisfy himself as to the truth of said rumors, the writer visited the stock-yards on yesterday, and there saw a steer that had been crippled on Saturday and hauled out to die, and to all appearances would have died by night, so badly was it injured. That steer was sold to Frank Kuhn, the aforesaid butcher, and he leaving it there until Sunday afternoon, butchered said steer, hauled it out to the slaughter-pen, and there it was dressed, and the meat brought from there...