DOCTOR AWARDED £250

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1051, 15 August 1930, Page 1

DOCTOR AWARDED £250

SLANDEROUS REMARKS MADE BY NURSE DECISION OF JURY From Our Resident Reporter WELLINGTON. Today. A jury awarded £250 to Dr. Richard Walter Richards in the Supreme Court yesterday on a claim for slander brought against the Australasian Temperance and General Mutual Life Assurance Society, Limited, Dr Richards claimed £I,OOO damages for remarks made by a nurse employed by the society, Miss Blathwayt, to one of his patients, Mrs. D. C. M. Bell of Brooklyn, in the presence of a third person, Mrs. V. G. Little. After hearing legal argument, Mr. Justice Ostler decided that the remarks had been made by the nurse in the course of her employment. He also decided that the remarks were privileged even though they were made in the presence of a third person, provided they were bona fide and without malice. The following issues were agreed upon for submission to the jury, and were answered by them as stated:--(1) Were the words alleged in the statement of claim, or similar words, spoken by the nurse? Answer. Yes. (2> Were the words spoken by the nurse to Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Little defamatory of the plaintiff? Yes. (3) If so, was the nurse, when she spoke those words in the presence of Mrs. Little, acting bona fide, or was she actuated by malice. By malice. (4> If the words spoken by the curse were defamatory of the plaintiff, was she in speaking those words to Mrs. Bell actuated by malice? Yes. (5) What damages, if any, is the plaintiff entitled to recover from the defendant? £250.