Case Name: CRESSON v. LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1924-05-08
Citations: 2 Ohio Law Abs. 622
Docket Number: No. 3918
Parties: CRESSON v. LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL
Judges: 
Reporter: The Ohio Law Abstract
Volume: 2
Pages: 622–622

Head Matter:
No. 648
CRESSON v. LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL
U. S. Appeals, 6th Circuit
No. 3918.
Decided May 8, 1924
715. LIBEL AND SLANDER — Published account of the report of a majority of a congressional committee held privileged.
Attorneys — Wm. Marshall Bullitt and John E. Tarrant, for Cresson; Geo. Cary Tabb, for Louisville Courier-Journal; all of Louisville.

Opinion:
MACK, C. J.
Epitomized Opinion
This was an action. for libel by Cresson against the Louisville Courier-Journal The defendant newspaper published an article purporting to be an account of the majority report of the committee appointed by Congress to investigate the esci.pe of Grover Bergdoll, a draft evader. The newspaper stated that the committee report stated that Bergdoll was aided in his escape to Germany by a conspiracy in which Cresson and others named played the leading part. The defense was that the matter complained of was privileged in that it was a publication made in good faith and without malice, of a fair, impartial and correct report of a document issued by a committee of the House of Representatives. The court directed a verdict for the defendant, whereupon plaintiff prosecuted error. In sustaining the judgment of the lower court, the Court of Appeals held:
1, As the publication fairly and accurately stated the substance of the report, it was privileged in the absence of actual malice and not actionable.