148 P. 338 | Mont. | 1915
delivered the opinion of the court.
Action for libel. The complaint is in two counts. The first count charges that on December 24, 1913, in the Great Falls “Tribune,” the defendants published of and concerning the plaintiff the following false and unprivileged matter, to-wit: “Some months ago there was quite a sensation sprung in this city when Frank Lemmer, a taxidermist, died from an overdose of morphine which he had secured at a drug-store on the prescription of a local doctor whom it was claimed had written the prescription for $1 when asked for it by a man who was an entire stranger to him. The man who got the prescription was also a stranger to Lemmer and went'to the doctor at Lemmer’s request”; that by such publication the defendants meant that the plaintiff “was and had been addicted to the use of ‘dope’ (morphine), ’ ’ had died from an overdose thereof and had purchased it clandestinely; that by such publication plaintiff “has
The defendants demurred both generally and specially. The demurrer was sustained. The plaintiff, declining to plead further, suffered judgment of dismissal with costs. This appeal is from the judgment.
We are at a loss to understand the plaintiff’s tactics in this case. Upon the bare chance that the trial court might be found in error in sustaining the demurrer, and without any necessity for so doing, he obstinately stands upon a complaint which, to say the least, was not in form most advantageous to him. We say without necessity, for, judging from his brief as filed in tin's court, he had a cause of action capable of being clearly and effectively stated. Our functions, however, are now limited to a determination whether there was error in sustaining the demurrer, and this we proceed to do.
It is an elementary rule of pleading in actions for libel that the plaintiff must recover, if at all, for the publication of the
The second count is an attempt to plead special damages on
Affirmed.