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Matassa v. Bel

156 So. 2d 250, 1963 La. App. LEXIS 1919
Louisiana Court of Appeal·Decided July 1, 1963·No. Nos. 1143, 1144·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

SAMUEL, Judge.

These two suits, consolidated for trial and to be decided by one judgment in the district court and consolidated for argument here, are for an alleged libel arising out of an advertisement which appeared in The Times-Picayune, a morning newspaper, and the New Orleans States-Item, an afternoon newspaper, on March 2, 1962. With the exception of the fact that one of the suits is based on the advertisement in The Times-Picayune and the other is based on the same advertisement in the New Orleans States-Item, both suits are identical in every respect.

Mr. Matassa, the plaintiff who was a state representative, and Mr. Clyde F. Bel, one of the defendants and the incumbent seeking' re-election, were candidates in a second primary election to be held on March 3, 1962 for the office of Constable of the First City Court of the City of New Orleans and the advertisement was published as a part of the Bel political campaign. In addition to Mr. Bel, the defendants are the chairman of his campaign committee, who with Bel is alleged to have caused the advertisement to be published, and the publisher of both newspapers involved, The Times-Picayune Publishing Company. That company was succeeded by The Times-Picayune Publishing Corporation and the corporation, herein referred to as “publisher”, has been substituted as a party defendant.

The two individual defendants filed exceptions of no cause of action and the publisher filed a motion for a summary judgment. There was judgment in the trial court maintaining the exceptions and dismissing the suits as to the individual defendants. The trial court also granted the [252] motion and rendered a summary judgment in favor of the publisher, dismissing the suits as to it. Plaintiff has appealed.

Tlie original advertisement is annexed to> and made part of the petitions and the following is a photostat thereof:

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Matassa v. Bel, 156 So. 2d 250, 1963 La. App. LEXIS 1919 (La. Ct. App. 1963).

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