Court Opinion

ID: 9630446
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:11:14.790971+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:38.730061
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Mr. Justice Manderino:
I concur with the majority that the complaint in this case states a cause of action, and should be remanded. I cannot agree, however, that there is no cause of action in defamation. If a person, prior to death, suffers economic loss from another person’s negligent conduct or breach of contract, his estate may recover that loss. There is no reason for a different result in defamation. If a defamed person suffers an injury to his reputation which results in economic loss, prior to that individual’s death, his estate should be entitled to recover that loss as in other cases.
The Act of April 18, 1949, P. L. 512, art. YI, §601, 20 P.S. §820.601, should be interpreted to mean that an action in defamation does not survive the death of the defamed person when the injury was to his reputation alone and did not result in economic loss. If the statute is not so interpreted, a serious constitutional issue is *57presented because living persons who have been harmed bj the economic loss to the defamed person’s estate will have no redress for that harm. See Pa. Const, art. I, §11.