Summary
name-calling such as "Scotch-bitch," "bastard," and "bum" not actionable without proof of special damage
Summary of this case from Walker v. Grand Cent. Sanitation, Inc.Opinion
December 6, 1938.
January 9, 1939.
Slander — Words not libelous per se — Ordinary meaning — Mental distress and physical illness — Special damages.
1. In an action of trespass for slanderous words, it was held on appeal that the words in question were not libelous per se in the absence of special circumstances showing that the words were not used in their ordinary meaning.
2. Mental distress and consequent physical illness do not constitute special damages recoverable where the words used are not actionable per se.
Argued December 6, 1938.
Before KEPHART, C. J., SCHAFFER, MAXEY, DREW, LINN, STERN and BARNES, JJ.
Appeal, No. 244, Jan. T., 1938, from judgment of C. P. No. 5, Phila. Co., June T., 1936, No. 5716, in case of Sarah Halliday v. Dominic Cienkowski. Judgment affirmed.
Trespass for slander. Before PARRY, J.
Compulsory nonsuit entered. Motion to take it off refused. Plaintiff appealed.
Error assigned was refusal to take off nonsuit.
Louis Matkoff, with him Herman A. Becker, for appellant.
John Patrick Walsh, for appellee.
This is an appeal from the refusal to take off a judgment of nonsuit in an action of trespass for slanderous words. To the opinion of the court below may be added the following cases, representative of the supporting decisions in other jurisdictions: De Santo v. De Nicola, 99 Conn. 717, 122 A. 708, and Warren v. Ray, 155 Mich. 91, 118 N.W. 741, both holding that such words are not libelous per se in the absence of special circumstances showing that the words were not used in their ordinary meaning; and Terwilliger v. Wands, 17 N.Y. 54, holding that mental distress and consequent physical illness do not constitute special damages recoverable where the words used are not actionable per se.
Halliday v. Cienkowski, 32 Pa. D. C. 410.
Judgment affirmed.