130 Va. 169 | Va. | 1921
delivered the opinion of the court.
This was an action for defamation, brought by Heflin against Davis. There was a judgment for the plaintiff, and the defendant assigns error.
The litigation grew out of a letter written and mailed by Davis at Colonial Beach in Westmoreland county, Virginia, addressed to Charles H. St. John, at Washington, D. C. Davis and St. Johnwere both residents of Washington, but Davis owned property at Colonial Beach and was frequently there on business. The letter contained defamatory statements' about Heflin. It arrived at St; John’s office in Washington during his absence and was opened and partially read by W. C. Robinson, an associate in the
The declaration contained three counts, the first one for common law libel, and the second and third for insulting words under the statute. The errors assigned relate to the instructions and to the motion for a new trial, but they involve this single question: Was it reversible error for the court to give, as it did, certain instructions on behalf of the plaintiff looking to a recovery under the statutory counts? Or, to state the question differently, can there be any recovery at- all in this case under the statutory counts?
The contention on the part of the defendant is that the evidence showed publication of the alleged libelous matter only in Washington/ and not in Virginia; that there was no proof of a statute in the District of Columbia similar to the Virginia statute for insulting words; that, therefore, there could not lawfully be any recovery in this case under the statute, and that as the second and third counts in the. declaration were based upon the statute, the verdict which was .general in form, may have been found under these counts and the instructions thereon.
We have then a case in which the verdict is good under the evidence, regardless of the count or counts in the declaration under which it was found. If under the common law count it is conceded that the case was made out, because there was unquestionably a publication in Washington, and .in a common law action the place of publication is immaterial. If the verdict was found under the statutory counts, then conceding, but not deciding, that the mailing of the letter, coupled with the subsequent reception and perusal thereof by St. John and Robinson in Washington, did not amount to a. publication in both States, the verdict is still sufficiently supported, under Rolland v. Batchelder, supra, by the proof that Davis in substance reiterated the slanderous statements to Heflin himself in Virginia.
We find no error in the'judgment complained of, and the same is affirmed.
Affirmed.