James v Baird
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judgment Date | 27 October 1914 |
| Date | 27 October 1914 |
| Docket Number | No. 3. |
| Court | Court of Session |
Ld. Anderson, Lord President, Lord Johnston, Lord Mackenzie, Lord Skerrington.
Reparation—Slander—Issue—Innuendo—Necessity of averring innuendo on record.
An innuendo which has not been set forth upon record cannot be embodied in an issue.
Dictum of Lord President Inglis in Sexton v. Ritchie & Co.SC, (1890) 17 R. 680, approved.
Wright & Greig v. Outram & CompanySC, (1889) 16 R. 1004, commented on.
On 12th January 1914 Dr John George Wallace James, a medical practitioner in Haddington, brought an action of damages for slander against Mrs Susan Georgina Fergusson or Baird.
The slander complained of was contained in the following letter, written by the defender to the chairman of the Parish Council of Haddington:—
‘Dear Sir,—As president of the Haddington District Nursing Association, I am writing to ask your attention to the following:— I am informed that Mrs Haldane, Kelpair Street, an old-age pensioner, sent to Dr James for medical assistance on the 7th of November. He did not come on that day or the next, and another doctor was sent for on the 9th. Dr James called on the 10th, but did not order in the district nurse, or, so far as I understand, call again. The nurse was sent in by the other doctor on the 14th and has been in attendance ever since. Mrs Haldane is quite helpless, by which I mean unable to move in bed at all, and is said to be suffering from a malignant disease. She has very extensive bedsores. Her daughter, who lives above her, does what she can, but it is a typical case requiring a trained nurse. Only a nurse can prevent bedsores occurring, and once established they are very difficult to cure, and cause the patient much pain and distress.
‘The Council, besides giving a grant of £2 a year to the Nursing Association, have twice passed resolutions enjoining their Medical Officer to call in the nurse when required. I beg to enclose one of them, the last was passed in July 1910. Immediately upon the passing of the last, 10 cases on the roll were given us. The following year there were 19. In 1912 none were notified as requiring attention, nor have there been any this year.
‘I venture to bring Mrs Haldane's case to your notice as one who should have been given the help which was within reach and to which she was entitled.—Believe me, yours truly,
‘S. G. Baird.’
The pursuer averred:—(Cond. 3) ‘The statements contained in the said letter are of and concerning the pursuer, and falsely and calumniously represent, and were intended by the defender to represent, that the pursuer had been guilty of gross and wilful neglect of and failure to discharge his duty as a medical man by negligently failing, when sent for, to visit Mrs. Haldane whom he knew to be in most serious illness and great distress, and by omitting to procure for his patient Mrs Haldane “the help which was within reach, and to which she was entitled,” and which “should have been given” to her by the pursuer. The said letter further represented, and was intended by the defender to represent, that the pursuer as medical officer of the parish had wilfully disobeyed the express instructions of the Parish Council by failing, during the years 1912 and 1913, to call in the district nurse to parish patients who required her services, and in particular to the said Mrs Haldane, and had negligently failed during the said years to call in the said nurse to parish patients who required her services. The statements in the said letter were so understood by those to whom they were communicated.’
The pursuer also denied the truth of the statements in the letter, and averred that Mrs Haldane, as was known to the defender, was not and never had...
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James v Baird
...damages, unless it be established that counsel is acting on the express instructions, or with the privity, of his client. (Reportedante, 1915 S. C. 23.) On 12th January 1914 Dr John George Wallace James, a medical practitioner in Haddington, brought an action against Mrs Susan Georgiana Fer......