Independent Life Insurance v. Hunter

This is a libel suit in which the plaintiff below obtained a judgment for $25,000. A remittitur of $10,000 was suggested by the trial judge and judgment entered for $15,000. Defendant below took the case to the Court of Appeals and that court reversed the judgment and dismissed the suit. We granted the petition for certiorari filed on behalf of plaintiff Hunter.

The suit was based on a communication written by the president of the Independent Life Insurance Company to Honorable A. S. Caldwell, at that time (September 4, 1930) Commissioner of Insurance of the State of Tennessee. This…