Mellon v. Brewer

• Decision Date: 07 March 1927
• Docket Number: No. 4497.,4497.
• Citation: 18 F.2d 168
• Parties: MELLON v. BREWER.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

18 F.2d 168 (1927)

MELLON v. BREWER.

No. 4497.

Court of Appeals of District of Columbia.

Submitted January 4, 1927.

Decided March 7, 1927.

F. J. Hogan, of Washington, D. C., for appellant.

R. L. Merrick and C. B. Brewer, both of Washington, D. C., for appellee.

Before MARTIN, Chief Justice, and ROBB and VAN ORSDEL, Associate Justices.

ROBB, Associate Justice.

This is a special appeal to review an order of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, overruling a demurrer to the declaration in an action for an alleged libel, in which damages in the sum of $500,000 are claimed.

The plaintiff, according to the averments of his declaration, had been an employee and officer of the government for many years, having served in the capacities of assistant draftsman, draftsman, and chief draftsman in the Navy Department, technical assistant in the Navy Department assigned to duty with the Department of Justice, Attorney in the Department of Justice, and, from about the 5th day of September of 1921 until the 31st day of March of 1925, a special assistant to the Attorney General, in which latter position he received a salary of $5,000 per year. In the month of March, 1921, "he was assigned to and entrusted with the investigation tion, in the Treasury Department of the United States and elsewhere, of supposed fraudulent duplications and other frauds in the counterfeiting, copying, falsification, sale, and disposal of bonds and other securities of the United States, and other instruments and writings evidencing the public indebtedness of the United States, and on or about the 9th day of June, A. D. 1924, the plaintiff was assigned as counsel for the select committee to investigate the preparation, distribution, sale, payment, retirement, surrender, cancellation and destruction of government bonds, and other securities, * * in which capacity plaintiff served until the expiration of said committee on March 4, 1925." As a result of the assignment to make investigation in the Treasury Department and elsewhere, plaintiff made and caused to be made "an extensive, exhaustive, and far-reaching investigation of said alleged irregularities, duplications, frauds, and crimes, and as a result and because thereof plaintiff also prepared and submitted, as was his duty so to do, at various times, in writing, reports to the President of the United States, and to the Attorney General of the United States, his superior officers, and particularly a report to the Attorney General of the United States, dated on, to wit, the 15th day of January, A. D. 1924," and on March 2, 1925, the select committee submitted a report to the House of Representatives. In all his reports, plaintiff commented fairly and impartially and without bias, prejudice, or malice upon the facts and circumstances disclosed, and the conclusions and recommendations made in his reports were his honest and sincere opinions, convictions and beliefs. His conduct as counsel for the congressional committee is alleged to have been of the same character.

Yet the defendant, it is charged, well knowing the premises, but contriving and wrongfully and maliciously intending to injure the plaintiff in his good name, fame, credit, and reputation, and to bring him into public scandal, infamy, and disgrace, to injure him in his employment, profession, and vocation, and to bring him into public contempt, ridicule, distrust, and hatred, "did, on or about the 3d day of March, A. D. 1925, falsely, wrongfully, wickedly, and maliciously compose and cause to be composed, of and concerning plaintiff individually, and of and concerning plaintiff as a public officer and employee as aforesaid, a certain false, scandalous, malicious, and defamatory libel in the form of a letter addressed to the President of the United States of America, which the said defendant published and caused to be published, in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, by sending copies thereof to certain newspapers printed and published in the District of Columbia and elsewhere." The names of the newspapers are then mentioned, and this list is followed by a copy of the "letter" itself.

The communication in question is headed "Treasury Department, Office of the Secretary," under date of March 3, 1925, is addressed to the President, and signed "A. W. Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury." After referring to the fact that there had been submitted to Congress by the special committee a majority report, with one member of the committee filing a minority report "expressing complete disagreement with the committee's findings, and that the chairman of the committee had filed a separate report, the Secretary continued: "The committee's report, for the most part, is hardly more than a repetition of charges made by Mr. Charles B. Brewer (the plaintiff), a special assistant to the Attorney General, dated January 15, 1924. Mr. Brewer's charges were, in turn, substantially a repetition of charges made in 1920 by Mr. J. W. McCarter, former Assistant Register of the Treasury under the Democratic administration. These charges are familiar to you, to members of Congress, and to the public generally. I shall not repeat them in this communication. Briefly, they allege that fraud has existed in connection with government bonds."

The communication then states that, when the charges were made by Mr. McCarter in 1920, they were thoroughly investigated by the then Secretary Houston, who publicly stated in two letters that they were without foundation. In April of 1921 McCarter again presented his charges to a member of Congress, who referred them to the Department of Justice, and plaintiff then began his activities. "Mr. Brewer devoted nearly three years to an investigation of the McCarter charges, and during that period made several reports to the Department of Justice, which indicated, in substance, that he suspected irregularities, but could not prove them. In these interim reports he usually included an appeal for more time in which to determine the facts. In October, 1923, after 2½ years had elapsed and Mr. Brewer still claimed his inquiry was incomplete, you designated Mr. Charles G. Washburn, an attorney at law of Worcester, Massachusetts, as your personal representative to consult with Mr. Brewer and to ascertain what facts he had developed. The situation, as disclosed by Mr. Washburn's study of the matter, was much the same as in preceding years. Mr. Brewer stated that he had not developed all the facts, and that he desired more time to present his `proof.' Mr. Washburn advised you of the situation, and Mr. Brewer was given three additional months in which to complete his investigation. Having already spent 2½ years on the matter, certainly it was reasonable to suppose that this would be sufficient to enable him to finish any remaining phases of his work. Accordingly, it was arranged between Mr. Brewer and Mr. Washburn that, on January 15, 1924, Mr. Brewer should submit his final report."

The communication then refers to the filing of the report by the plaintiff with the Attorney General under date of January 15, 1924, and continues: "It contained no evidence which could in any wise be construed as a justification of the charges. As an investigator of the Department of Justice, it was Mr. Brewer's duty to ascertain and determine whether the charges were true or untrue. He did neither. His report was merely a reiteration of the charges, with embellishments, and with the comment in each instance that further investigation would develop the facts. Mr. Brewer's report was referred to the Treasury, and in my letter to you of April 26, 1924, I answered in detail all his specific charges. I stated then, and I repeat here, that there have been no fraudulent duplications or overissues of the public debt, and that the charges are absurd. There...