## Facts

- Avery filed one civil action against Harris asserting two causes of action arising from a single incident in Fort Scott, Kansas.
- Avery alleged Harris, in the presence of others, called Avery “a thief” and said Avery had stolen a horse.
- Avery alleged Harris seized Avery’s horse, arrested Avery, and caused him to be jailed for four or five days.
- Avery pleaded the arrest and confinement as false imprisonment and the public accusation as slander.
- Harris demurred, contending the two causes of action were improperly joined because they involved different types of injury (personal liberty versus reputation).

## Issues

1. Whether claims for false imprisonment and slander may be joined in one petition when they arise out of the same transaction or transactions connected with the same subject of action under the Kansas Code.

## Decision

- The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the order overruling Harris’s demurrer.
- The court held the false imprisonment and slander claims were properly joined because they arose from one transaction within the meaning of the Kansas Code.
- The case was permitted to proceed on both causes of action in a single action.

## Legal Principles

- Under the Kansas Code, different causes of action may be joined when they arise out of the same transaction or transactions connected with the same subject of action.
- The Code’s joinder standard focuses on the connected events forming a single occurrence, not on whether the claims fit within the same common-law category of injury.
- Closely connected acts in a continuous sequence may constitute one transaction for joinder purposes, supporting resolution of related disputes in a single lawsuit and avoiding multiple suits.

## Conclusion

Because the alleged defamatory statements, seizure of the horse, arrest, and confinement formed one continuous occurrence, the court treated them as a single transaction and allowed joinder of false imprisonment and slander in the same action.


Harris v. Avery, 5 Kan. 146 (Kan. 1869)