Case ID: misc_45/html/0292-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Gaynor, J.:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Hattie G. Kenworthy, Plaintiff, v. Louise Brown, Defendant.
    (Supreme Court, Rockland Trial Term,
    November, 1904.)
    Libel — “You are only a low woman, you are a half negress” — It does not impute unchastity.
    The statement, “You are only a low woman, you are a half negress,” is not susceptible of the innuendo that it imputed unchastity to the person concerning whom it was made, and, consequently, a complaint in an action for slander setting up such a statement and such an innuendo is demurrable.
    Action for slander. Trial of an issue of law on a demurrer to the complaint on the ground that it does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The allegation of the complaint is that the defendant spoke of the plaintiff as follows: “ You are only a low woman, you are a half negress innuendo, thereby imputing unchastity to her.
    A. S. Tompkins, for plaintiff.
    "White & Oase, for defendant.
   Gaynor, J.:

Hemmens v. Nelson (138 N. Y. 517) is not in point. The trpuble there was that the complaint did not contain an innuendo, which is always necessary in the case of words capable of two meanings, one slanderous and the other not. In such cases the slanderous meaning must be singled out and alleged by an innuendo, i. e., a special allegation of the complaint. This is only a question of pleading. The present case is different. There is an innuendo alleging the meaning of the words to be an imputation of unchastity. The question therefore is whether the words are capable of such a meaning. They are not, and their meaning cannot be enlarged by an innuendo. These rules are too familiar to bear citation by a trial judge.

Judgment for the defendant.