SLANDER ACTION
NOMINAL DAMAGES
Sales organiser's appeal
A start was made yesterday by the Court of Appeal with the hearing of an appeal by Beginald Charles Boddie, sales organiser, of Wellington, against a judgment delivered in the Supreme Court in June last in which Mr. Justice Ostler awarded Boddie a total of threofarthings damages against James Dicksou Sievwright, of .Wellington, from whom ho claimed a total of £2500 damages for alleged slander. The case was one in which considerable reference was made at the hearing to a formula for the manufacture of a disinfectant. Mr. Justice Ostler held that Boddie had succeeded in three of the five causes of action he set out, and for each of the three slanders his Honour held to bo established he awarded damages of one farthing, without Court costs. The appeal is being heard by Mr. Justice Herdman, Mr. Justice MacGregor, and Mr. Justice Kennedy. Mr. C. H. Weston, K.C., with him Mr. C. Evans-Scott, appears for the appellant, and Mr. H. P. O'Leary for the respondent. Mr. Weston said it was submitted that the two allegations which Mr. Justice Ostler held were not established were really established, and that justification was not proved by the respondent. The appellant claimed that it was not a case for contemptuous damages, for the first reason that the assessments made by his Honour were made on a principle not allowed by the law, that was that they were made on evidence of conduct, instead of .evidence of reputation. It was respectfully submitted by the appellant that his Honour did not follow the rule established in three reported cases. He also claimed that the Court did not give consideration to the evidence of respondent's conduct, entitling the appellant purely to damages, and in the result he asked the Court of Appeal to assess damages on a more liberal scale. The appellant lastly said that costs should have been granted to him. . Pursuant to leave granted last year, Boddie is appealing as a pauper. Legal argument is proceeding. Three days have been set down for the hearing of the case. •
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19340313.2.111
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 61, 13 March 1934, Page 12
Word Count
351SLANDER ACTION Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 61, 13 March 1934, Page 12
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