Coates v. Wallace

Citations

• 4 Pa. Super. 253
• 1897 Pa. Super. LEXIS 114

Syllabus

<p>LAbel — Privileged communication — Burden of proof.</p> <p>A communication to be privileged, must be made on a proper occasion, from a proper motive and be based upon reasonable or probable cause. The immunity of a privileged communication is an exception, and he who relies upon an exception must prove all the facts necessary to bring himself within it.</p> <p>Libel — Probable cause defined.</p> <p>Probable cause, which will sustain a privileged communication, is a reasonable ground of suspicion supported by circumstances sufficient to warrant a cautious man in believing that the party is guilty of the offense.</p> <p>Knowledge that the plaintiff had neglected to perform certain duties, such .as the collection of certain fees, affords no probable or reasonable ground for belief in the charge that he had violated the law by receiving fees to which he was not entitled, especially when the fees referred to in the charge were the same fees which he was known not to have received.</p> <p>Libel — Duty to prove truth or establish probable cause.</p> <p>A charge that a candidate “ did violate the law and take fees to which he was not entitled” is libelous per se. The plaintiff at the time being a candidate for a public office it was made on a proper occasion and from a proper motive, but responsibility will not be excused where the defendant not only fails to show the truth of the statement but also to establish that it was based on reasonable or probable cause. It is not sufficient to show that defendant had information which led him to believe it was true, the circumstances leading to the belief must be shown, that it may appear whether or not it was well founded.</p> <p>Evidence — Erroneous rejection mired by cross-examination.</p> <p>The appellate court will not reverse for error in rejecting competent testimony where the record shows that the very matters to which the offers relate were subsequently brought out in full by the subsequent cross-examination of the witn