McCarlie v. Atkinson

Mississippi Supreme Court
McCarlie v. Atkinson, 77 Miss. 594 (Miss. 1900)
Terral

McCarlie v. Atkinson

Opinion of the Court

Terral, <J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

McOarlie sued Atkinson in the circuit court of Pike county in the sum of $84,000 damages for a libel in saying of him, in a letter to W. C. Hurt Tobacco Company, of Danville, Ya.; “that he (McOarlie) was not safe for a credit of $125, and that he had never paid, his debts;” to a plea of the statute of limitations of one year, the plaintiff replied that defendant had fraudulently concealed said cause of action until within one year before suit brought. A demurrer to said replication being sustained, the plaintiff appeals.

The libel in this case was not complete until the letter containing the matter complained of was received at Danville, Va., by the W. C. Hurt Tobacco Company, and was there opened and read by some member of that company.

It is impossible to predicate a concealment of the publica*599tion of the contents of the letter of any act of the defendant in Mississippi.

The sending of the letter to Danville through the mail was a condition without, which its contents could not have been published there, but such sending of the letter by mail could not constitute a fraudulent concealment of the contents of the letter or of the publication of such contents at Danville, Va.

We see no ground for the contention of the appellant; the cases cited by him are not pertinent to the facts of this case.

It is said that fraud does not affect the statute of limitation in this respect. Wilson v. Ivy, 82 Miss., 233. And the sending of libelous matter by mail to another state where the letter is opened and read, though the communication of the contents of the letter to the addressee in the foreign state may constitute a cause of action, yet there is nothing in the transaction by which we could attribute to the writer a concealment of the cause of action.

The action of the circuit court is affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
George W. McCarlie v. Clinton Atkinson
Cited By
15 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
1, Libel. Publication. Mail. Libelous matter contained in a letter, written and mailed in this state to an addressee in another state, is not published until the letter is received and read. 2. Same. Statute of limitation. Concealment of cause of action. Code 1892, $2749; lb., §2742. If suit for a libel contained in a letter sent by mail be brought after one year from publication (code 1892, § 2742) a concealment of the cause of action cannot be predicated, under code 1892, § 2749, of any act of the writer at the place where the letter was mailed. 3. Same. The sending of a libelous letter by mail cannot alone constitute a concealment of its contents or publication.