TORTS- DEATH AS A RESULT OF WORRY OVER LIBEL-SURVIVAL OF ACTIONS - LEGAL CAUSE

Plaintiff, administratrix of her husband's estate, brought an action against defendant newspaper to recover damages for the death of her husband, which she claimed resulted from worry over an alleged libel that defendant published. The trial court sustained defendant's demurrer to the declaration and plaintiff appealed. Held, since the "survival statute" does not preserve actions affecting character, the libel abated with the husband's death; and since mental anguish, worry, fear and loss of health are the several results of the wrongful act of libel, they cannot be made the basis of a new cause of action. Judgment for defendant affirmed.

Benton v. Knoxville News-Sentinel Co., 174 Tenn. 658, 130 S. W. (2d) 105 (1939).