Shor v. Billingsley case brief

Shor v. Billingsley case brief
1956 New York Supreme Court 

Facts: A person ad-libbed a remark on the nationwide telecast of how much money the plaintiff owes to people and how he wishes he had that money. The issue is of whether not reading from a prepared script is libel or slander. 

The previous case said that remarks read from a script into radio mic constitutes libel, so now court decides what to do here. 

Decision: This type of remark is still libel 

Reasoning: Looking at the extent of the damage a statement can do and thought that a televised newscast has as much if not more strength than a publication by writing. Just because it is ad-libbed does not mean that it does less harm than if it was published so defamation by radio should be allowed and should exist. 

The court finds no problem applying libel to motion picture because of the amount of damage that it can do. 

Note: A speech, on the other hand, would be slander if it is delivered over an amplifier to a vast audience in a stadium. 

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