Gibby v. Murphy

ARNOLD, Judge.

Defendants’ Appeal

The gravamen of the defendants’ appeal is that the trial court erred by denying their motion for a directed verdict as to the issue of slander. They base their argument upon the contentions that there was insufficient evidence of publication of any slanderous statement, and that there was insufficient evidence of damages. Defendants also contend the court erred by misstating the evidence in its summary to the jury.

Slander, oral defamatory utterances, may be actionable per se. Statements that are slanderous per se may form the basis of an action because in such…