3 Mich. App. 579 - Ball v. White’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “But the argument is and the circuit judge so held, that the transmission of the libel from the superintendent to the twenty-nine heads of department in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois was only passing the libel from one agent of defendant to another agent of defendant, and it had never reached the hands or knowledge of a third person, but in fact remained in the possession of the composer. This argument is wholly untenable. If a person compose a libel and send it to his agent, to be read by him, and it reaches its destination and is read by such agent, it is a sufficient publication to support the action. There are in this country railroad and telegraph corporations whose lines extend through many states and who employ many thousand agents. There are a great number of insurance companies employing agencies in several states. Can it be possible that these corporations possess an immunity to defame any person by sending such libel to every agent in their employment? Why should they possess this immunity more than an individual employing a large number of agents? Why should it be held a publication in one case and not in the other? In my opinion every agent to whom this discharge list was delivered was a third person respecting this corporation and the plaintiff, and it constituted a publication of the libel.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Brantley v. Zantop International Airlines, Inc.