Pattison v. Gulf Bag Co., Ltd.

• Decision Date: 07 May 1906
• Docket Number: 15,995
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Parties: PATTISON v. GULF BAG CO., Limited, et al

41 So. 224

116 La. 963

PATTISON v. GULF BAG CO., Limited, et al

No. 15,995

Supreme Court of Louisiana

May 7, 1906

Appeal from Civil District Court, Parish of Orleans; John St. Paul Judge.

Action by Newton H. Pattison against the Gulf Bag Company, Limited and others. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Carroll & Carroll, for appellants.

Robert John Maloney, for appellees W. H. Pattison and Hannah L Strenger.

OPINION

LAND J.

This is a suit for damages for an alleged libel published in the New Orleans Picayune on November 6, 1902, reflecting on the character of plaintiff's minor daughter, aged 19 years.

Plaintiff sued for himself individually and as tutor for his minor daughter, who married pending the suit, and her husband, Peter Strenger, was made a party.

The suit was discontinued as to the owners of the Picayune. The bag company pleaded the general issue. The case was tried before a jury, and there was a verdict and judgment in favor of Mrs. Strenger for $ 500, and against the individual demand of the plaintiff. Defendant appealed.

Plaintiff and appellee answered the appeal, praying for an increase of the judgment in his own behalf, and for the benefit of his minor child, Hannah L. Pattison, wife of P. L. Strenger. There has been no appearance made in this court by Mrs. Strenger and husband.

The plaintiff individually had no standing in court. Black v. Carrollton Railroad Company, 10 La.Ann. 33, 63 Am. Dec. 586; 8 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law (2d Ed.) p. 664.

The petition represents that the daughter had been an employe for several years of the Gulf Bag Company, Limited, of which Robert J. Wood was manager, and was discharged from service without just cause on August 28, 1902; that on November 6, 1902, the libel complained of was published in the columns of the Picayune; that the girl referred to in the publication was the daughter of the plaintiff; that the article as published was the result of a malicious and deliberate conspiracy between the defendants to injure and defame the character of the daughter, and had the effect of blasting her reputation, good name, and future as an innocent and virtuous girl. A copy of the newspaper containing the article referred to was made a part of the petition. The offensive matter is set forth in what purports to be a statement made by Manager Wood of the bag company to one Mr. Alexander and other gentlemen representing the Central trades and labor council, in an interview relative to the striking employes of the bag company. Among the propositions of settlement presented to the manager was the following:

"The above contemplates that all of the old employes, including Miss Patterson, are to return to work within one week from date of acceptance."

The article proceeds to detail the interview between Mr. Alexander and Manager Wood, and quotes the latter as speaking as follows:

"You have been misinformed," said Wood, "as have a great many others. I did not believe that you understood just what did happen here, and what precipitated this situation. It was not a trivial offense -- it was not the cause which has been generally assigned by the Union. It was a good cause, which she knows and which I know, and which I could tell you if necessary, but which I would prefer not to. Suffice it to say, however, that the cause was such that she could not be retained in this factory."

The petition charges that plaintiff's daughter was the girl referred to, and that said article as published was the result of a conspiracy between the defendants.

It was not necessary for the pleader to have gone to the extent of alleging a conspirary. The Picayune's liability resulted from the publication of the defamatory matter, and the mere privity of the bag company was sufficient to make it also responsible. The manager was interviewed and made a statement for the purpose of publication. He spoke for the corporation and authorized the insertion of his remarks in the article that appeared in the columns of the Picayune.

Evidence as to the statements of the...