Houston v. Pulitzer Publishing Co.
Supreme Court of Missouri
Appeal from Macon Circuit Court. — Hon. Nat M. Shelton, Judge. Defendant’s plea to the jurisdiction should have been sustained. There was no waiver, by entry of appearance and the filing of an application for a change of venue, before this plea to the jurisdiction had been passed upon, as there was in the Julian and Cook cases.
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Appeal from Macon Circuit Court. — Hon. Nat M. Shelton, Judge. Defendant’s plea to the jurisdiction should have been sustained. There was no waiver, by entry of appearance and the filing of an application for a change of venue, before this plea to the jurisdiction had been passed upon, as there was in the Julian and Cook cases. If the statutes of Missouri are construed to give the Macon Circuit Court jurisdiction of this cause when it would not have had jurisdiction if the article had been published by an individual defendant then they are in violation of those provisions of the Constitutions…
1Opinion of the CourtGraves, J.
This cause reached us from Division Two of this court, on the ground of a Federal question being involved. It is an action for libel in which the plaintiff recovered below the sum of $30,000 — $10,000 actual and $20,000 punitive damages. With the view we have of the constitutional question we need not go into the merits of the case. At this point *334suffice it to say that our brothers in Division Two were not impressed with the idea of the justness of the verdict because they cut the aggregate sum from $30,000 to $6000.
The details and reasoning upon questions of liability or no liability, libel…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Julian v. Kansas City Star Co.Supreme Court of Missouri · 1908
- Lanyon v. ChesneySupreme Court of Missouri · 1907
3Cited by17 opinions
- Truax v. CorriganSupreme Court of the United States · 1921
- Forman v. Mississippi Publishers Corp.Mississippi Supreme Court · 1943
- State Ex Rel. Allen v. BarkerSupreme Court of Missouri · 1979
- Litzinger v. Pulitzer Publishing CompanySupreme Court of Missouri · 1962
- McClung v. Pulitzer PublishIng Co.Supreme Court of Missouri · 1919
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