Guthrie v. Great American Ins.

DOBIE, Circuit Judge.

This appeal is taken from a directed verdict for both defendants in two suits for libel tried together in the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of West Virginia. Both actions arose from the same circumstances involving two insurance policies, one written by the Great American Insurance Company and the other by the Great American Indemnity Company. Herbert E. Guthrie brought two identical actions against the two companies under the West Virginia Statute of Insulting Words, to recover damages for alleged defamatory words contained in letters sent…