Kelly

This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment against him for $8,000 in an action brought to recover damages for slander. The allegations of the complaint were denied and as a separate defense numerous incidents in the conduct of plaintiff's hotel business were set forth as a justification for some of the slanderous remarks alleged to have been made by defendant.

The complaint contained a number of counts, but the ones upon which the jury brought in a verdict for the plaintiff were counts four, six and seven, reading, in part, respectively, as follows: “That on or about the month of August, 1921, at Los Angeles, California, the defendant maliciously, falsely and with the intent of injuring the plaintiff, stated to Mr. Charles H. Magee, as follows: She (meaning Mary Jane Bell, the plaintiff herein) is running a house of prostitution down there (meaning the Winnipeg Hotel) and I am going to get her out under the Bed Light Abatement Act. She is permitting all kinds of immorality and I am going to have the district attorney put her out, and if I can’t get her out one way, I will another.” “That on or about the 1st day of September, 1921, at the city of Ocean Park, California,…