Moore v. Streit

Plaintiffs, William Moore, chief of police for the Village of Cary, and six other Cary police officers, filed an action for slander against defendant, Daniel Streit, the owner of an automotive body shop in the village. The jury awarded no actual damages to plaintiffs, but awarded $6,500 in punitive damages to Moore and $1,500 in punitive damages to each of the other six plaintiffs. Defendant raises the following contentions on appeal: (1) that it was improper to award punitive damages to plaintiffs when there were no actual damages; (2) that the trial court erred by giving certain…