Saucer

Plaintiffs appeal from a judgment in favor of defendant, entered upon an order of court sustaining a general demurrer to the complaint.

The action is based upon the alleged act of defendant in causing to be published in a newspaper false and libelous statements that the deceased adult brother of plaintiff Virginia Saucer was an illegitimate son of her deceased mother, which false statements, it is alleged, have caused plaintiff grievous mental and physical suffering, for which she asked judgment for five hundred thousand dollars.

The demurrer was properly sustained. [1] While the publication of malicious defamatory statements “tending to blacken the memory of one who is dead” is made a crime (sec. 248, Pen. Code), punishable as provided in section 249 of the Penal Code, it gives rise to no cause of action in favor of a relative of such deceased for the recovery óf damages. [2] While section 460 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that in an action for libel it is not necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing application to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the cause of action arose, it must contain an allegation to…