A. S. Abell Co. v. Kirby

The A. S. Abell Company, publisher of The Sunpapers, appealed from the substantial judgment that followed the jury’s verdict against it and in favor of the appellee, Kirby, in his suit for defamation. The defense was that the editorial complained of, in which Kirby was called “infamous,” was fair comment on a matter of public interest. The principal reliance on appeal is that the trial judge erred when he made the issue, of fair comment vel non turn on whether the facts stated or referred to in the editorial formed a sound basis for the charge that Kirby was infamous. It is claimed he erred…