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Torts Keyed to Epstein
Kennedy v. Cannon
Facts
The Defendant was a lawyer for Charles Humphrey (Humphrey), an African-American man who was accused of raping a white woman. Humphrey claimed that the woman had consented to the intercourse. The Defendant spoke to the editor of the local paper and gave his client’s side of the story. The prosecution had already published its side of the events. The Defendant’s side of the story was printed in an article. As a result of the article, the Plaintiff suffered humiliation and harassment. She was eventually forced to move out of the state. The Plaintiff sued the Defendant claiming that the article charged her with adultery and was slanderous per se. The Defendant admitted to the court that the article had correctly quoted his statements. The Defendant claimed he needed to make the statements to tell his client’s side of the story in order to prevent a lynching of his client. At the conclusion of his testimony, the trial court granted the Defendant’s motion for a directed verdict. The trial court held that when the State published damaging statements about his client, the Defendant was privileged to reply. The Plaintiff appealed.
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