An ambiguous defamation imputation must be struck out with leave to replead; it is erroneous for a trial judge to permit an ambiguous imputation to proceed to trial subject to oral clarification by counsel. A newspaper article that juxtaposes a person's business dispute with a deceased and the circumstances of the deceased's violent death, without any disclaimer of that person's involvement (unlike another named suspect), is capable of conveying an imputation that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that person arranged the events leading to the death.
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