Eugene Volokh points out that defamation by half-truth cases are rare, but in his post about a recent such case, he urges us to think about the news story that brought it on before reading the judge's decision:
WOMAN HURT BY GUNSHOT
Mrs. Ruth A. Nichols, 164 Eastview, was treated at St. Joseph Hospital for a bullet wound in her arm after a shooting at her home, police said.
A 40-year-old woman was held by police in connection with the shooting with a .22 rifle. Police said a shot was also fired at the suspect’s husband.
Officers said the incident took place Thursday night after the suspect arrived at the Nichols home and found her husband there with Mrs. Nichols.
Witnesses said the suspect first fired a shot at her husband and then at Mrs. Nichols, striking her in the arm, police reported.
No charges had been placed.
The omitted facts were that several people were sitting around in a living room talking when the shooting occurred. The judge decided the story could be libelous, if negligence were shown. The story reminded Volokh of this famous hypothetical half-truth -- a first mate who, upset at his teetotaling captain, writes in the ship’s log, "Captain sober today."
