Libel suit

Bridger's relative never had a chance in her law suit.I am sure that her lawyer didn't take it on a contingency basis, he must have known it was hopeless.Long before then it had become a well established principle in law that there was no recourse in law for a libel on the dead.Only a living person, or their repesentative, can sue for libel.This was graphically demonstrated in the case of the "Mary Celeste", the ship found drifting with no crew in the Atlantic.Various writers came up with theories, many involving swindles by the captains of the Mary Celeste and the "Dei Gratia", which found it.Since neither was alive when these wild charges were made, the relatives, infuriated as they were,were unable to sue.