LIBEL AND SLANDER - LIMITATION OF ACTIONS -TOLLING THE BAR OF STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS BY SUBSEQUENT SALE OF THE LIBELLOUS MATTER

Authors

John H. Pickering, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

On April 25, 1938, plaintiff commenced suit for libel. Nine separate causes of action were set up by alleging nine different publications in successive issues of Liberty Magazine. The first publication was alleged to have occurred on or about April 17, 1937, the second on or about April 24, 1937, and the third on or about May 1, 1937. Defendant showed by affidavit that the issues were placed on sale ten days before the date printed on the cover so that the first issue was on sale by April 7, 1937, the second on April 14, 1937 and the third on April 21, 1937. Defendant then moved for dismissal of the first three causes of action on the ground that they had been barred by the one-year period of limitation for libel actions. In answer, plaintiff contended that each issue remained on the news-stands for a considerable period of time and claimed that each sale constituted a publication sufficient to toll the statute. By affidavit plaintiff also showed that there had been a sale of these back issues on January 10, 1938. Held, that the first three causes of action were barred by the statute of limitations, the running of which could not be tolled by subsequent sale of old copies. Means v. MacFadden Publication, Inc., (D. C. N. Y. 1939) 25 F. Supp. 993.

Recommended Citation

John H. Pickering, LIBEL AND SLANDER - LIMITATION OF ACTIONS -TOLLING THE BAR OF STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS BY SUBSEQUENT SALE OF THE LIBELLOUS MATTER, 38 Mich. L. Rev. 552 (1940).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol38/iss4/16