Duggan v. Pulitzer Publishing Co.

WHITE, Judge.

Plaintiff, Lester Duggan Jr., brought a defamation action against defendants, Pulitzer Publishing Co. and three of its employees. The trial court sustained defendants’ motion to dismiss and plaintiff appeals. We reverse and remand.

Plaintiff served as the trial judge in a case involving a defendant charged with second degree murder. Plaintiff sustained the defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of the State’s case. Pulitzer Publishing Co., as owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Post-Dispatch), subsequently published an article and editorial which were attached…