Case ID: nys_155/html/0929-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

MOORE & MUNGER CO. v. MOTOR TRADES PUB. CO.
    (Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department.
    November 26, 1915.)
    1. Libel and Slander <@=>9—Charge of Bankruptcy.
    Falsely to charge a person engaged in business, to whom commercial credit is of importance, with bankruptcy, is libelous per se.
    LEd. Note.—For other cases, see Libel and Slander, Cent. Dig. §§ 80-90; Dec. Dig. <@=>9J
    2. Libel and Slander <@=>73—Words Employed—Charge of Bankruptcy.
    The rule as to libelous words which affect credit applies to corporations as well as to natural persons.
    [Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Libel and Slander, Cent. Dig. § 174; Dec. Dig. <@=573.]
    3. Libel and Slander <@=59—Words Used—Charge of Bankruptcy in the Past.
    The fact that defendant said that plaintiff was declared a bankrupt several months past does not affect his liability, since the charge of past bankruptcy would affect the credit of plaintiff no less than the charge of present bankruptcy.
    [Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Libel and Slander, Cent. Dig. §§ 80-90; Dec. Dig. <@=»9J
    ^~>For other cases see same topic & KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests & Indexes
    Appeal from Special Term, New York County.
    Action by the Moore & Hunger Company against the Motor Trades Publishing Company. Plaintiff’s motion for judgment on the complaint and demurrer was sustained, and defendant appeals. Affirmed, with leave to answer.
    The following is the opinion of Page, J., at Special Term:
    The alleged libelous article published by the defendant concerning the plaintiff, as set forth in the complaint, states that the plaintiff’s automobile plant in New York City has been purchased by another company, and adds: “The tirm of Moore & Hunger went Into bankruptcy several months ago, due, it was said, to the losses sustained in the failure of the Palmer-Singer and Benz Companies in New York.”
    
       In a recent case the Appellate Division of this department hold that “falsely to charge a person engaged in business, to whom commercial credit is of the utmost importance, with bankruptcy, is libelous per se.” Hynds v. Fourteenth Street Store, 159 App. Div. 766, at page 776, 144 N. Y. Supp. 1030, at page 1036. The rule as to libelous words which affect credit applies to corporations as well as to natural persons. Reporters’ Ass’n v. Sun Printing & Pub. Ass’n, 186 N. Y. 437, 79 N. E. 710.
    
       The claim of the defendant that the words complained of referred to past bankruptcy and did not affect the present credit of the plaintiff is untenable. An allegation that a person went into bankruptcy “several months ago’’ would certainly have an effect upon the present credit of the person concerning whom it was spoken.
    The plaintiff’s motion" for judgment on the pleadings is granted, with $10 costs, with leave to the defendant to withdraw the demurrer and interpose an answer within 10 days upon payment of said costs, in default of which judgment will be entered for the plaintiff for the relief demanded in the complaint, with costs.
    Argued before INGRAHAM, P. J., and LAUGHLIN, CLARKE, SCOTT, and SMITH, JJ.
    
      W. F. Goldbeck, of New York City, for appellant.
    L. E. Warren, of New York City, for respondent.
   PER CURIAM.

Order affirmed, with $10 costs and disbursements, on the opinion of PAGE, J., with leave to defendant to withdraw demurrer and to answer on payment of costs. Order filed.