DAMAGES FOR SLANDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17267, 17 September 1919, Page 7

DAMAGES FOR SLANDER.

I «*. . QUEEN STREET INCIDENT. j QUEEN STREET INCIDENT. I i PLAINTIFF AWARDED £10. An action for £50 damages for slander was heard before.. Mr. J- W. Poynton, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court yesterday. The parties were Alice Maud Estoll (Mr. Sullivan), "plaintiff, and Catherine Royle (Mr. A. Moody), defendant. ] The plaintiff in evidence said that on i the afternoon of May 29 the defendant j waited for her at the Thames Hotel j corner, and asi she passed said. " I'll do j for you, yet, you thing." After making another remark defendant ran after her, ] and hit her •on the back. Defendant I then went up to Constable Mills, and, is i plaintiff's hearing, made a grave allega- | tion against her morality. Court pro- J ceeding ensued, and plaintiff was served with a summons for assault, but when the case came up for hearing Mrs. Royle I apologised for her part in the case, and j had the information withdrawn. Cross-examined, plaintiff admitted that she had heard Mrs. Royle's counsel apolo aise in open Court for her behaviour. She said that if a public announcement of that apology had been made she probably j would not have brought the slander action. Counsel for defendant said he considered the present action was brought I merely as a means of exposing his client. She admitted the offence, and was sorry for it. The Magistrate said the plaintiff was justified in taking action. The defendant had used very gross words, and very heavy damages had been awarded in similar cases in England. Plaintiff was allowed £10 damages. _ •*■ . .