Woodward v. South Carolina Farm Bureau Insurance

Harwell, Justice:

South Carolina Farm Bureau Insurance Company appeals a verdict against it in a libel and slander action instituted by respondent W. McGill Woodward. Farm Bureau alleges that the trial judge erred by finding the communications libelous and slanderous per se and not protected by privilege; failure to submit the issue of liability to the jury is assigned as error. Farm Bureau also contends that the admission of *31certain matter as competent evidence was erroneous and prejudicial. While we find no error in the trial judge’s handling of the broader issue of liability, we find that…