136 S.W.2d 641 | Tex. App. | 1939
This suit was instituted by appellant, Tom Hedgpeth, in the district court of Hamilton county to recover of appellees, L. J. Gartman and J. Garvey, damages for the publication of an alleged libelous article concerning appellant. Appellant alleged that said article was published for three consecutive weeks in the Hamilton County News, a newspaper published in said county. Said article was as follows:
Appellees presented a general demurrer to appellant's petition, which was sustained by the court. Appellant declined to amend and prosecuted an appeal to this court.
Appellant's allegations, when assailed by general demurrer, must be accepted as true. Appellees, in their brief, present each of the two sentences contained in said publication separately and insist that neither of them tends to impeach appellant's honesty and integrity or to affect his good name or reputation, and that said publication was not therefore libelous. The general rule of law in this state is that in determining whether a writing or publication is defamatory in character, the language used therein must be considered as a whole and in the light of all pertinent facts and circumstances alleged in connection therewith. R.S., Art. 5430; 27 Tex.Jur., p. 610, sec. 14; Clark v. Bohms, Tex. Civ. App.
The judgment of the trial court is reversed and the cause remanded.