III
That at said time and place, the defendants aforesaid stated to one Everett G. Belder, who was then and there the employer of the plaintiff, that said plaintiff was a twerp, that the plaintiff was in love with her employer, that in order to induce her said employer to become more susceptible to her affections and advances, the said plaintiff had previously written anonymous letters to the wife of said employer, accusing said employer of being unfaithful and untrue to his said wife, hoping thereby to bring about a severance of the said marital relationship so that said employer would be free to marry plaintiff; that as a result of said letters, one Sally Brentner, employed as a maid in the Belder household, had met her death, either by accident or suicide, all of which was intended and planned by the said plaintiff to be a result of writing said letters, and all of which was a natural and logical result therefrom, and reasonably, logically and naturally to be anticipated by a reasonable person.
IV
That said statements, and each of them, were false and untrue, and were then and there uttered by the defendants with knowledge of their falsity, and/or with a recklessness which constituted a complete disregard of the truth.
V
That said statements, and each of them, were made in the presence of the plaintiff, her employer, and other witnesses, and that as a result thereof, the plaintiff sustained great nervous shock and suffered embarrassment, annoyance, and humiliation; that as a further result of said statements, and each of them, jointly and severally, and solely because of same, on or about the eighth day of April, 1943, plaintiff’s said employer discharged the said plaintiff from his employ.
VI
That all of said statements were not only false, and were then and there known to be false to the said defendants at the time they were made, but each of said statements was then and there uttered with malice toward the plaintiff, and with a reckless disregard of the truth, and with the deliberate intent of defaming the character of the plaintiff. WHEREFORE, plaintiff prays judgment against the said defendants in the sum of fifty thousand dollars actual damages, and in an additional sum of fifty thousand dollars as punitive or exemplary damages, making a total of one hundred thousand dollars, and plaintiff prays for her costs of suit incurred herein. A. FRANKLINE KOLBER, Attorney for the Plaintiff
All of the sea-breeze vitality oozed out of Bertha Cool. She sat down in a chair across from Elsie Brand’s desk with knee-buckling finality. “Fry me for an oyster!” she exclaimed.
“But how can she sue you?” Elsie Brand demanded indignantly. “My heavens! You didn’t have her arrested or anything.”