Lynch v. Republic Publishing Co.

Plaintiff instituted this action to recover both general and special damages from the defendant because of the publication of an allegedly libelous editorial. A trial before the court sitting with a jury resulted in a verdict for defendant. Plaintiff’s motion for a new trial having been denied, a judgment of dismissal was entered from which plaintiff has appealed.

For eighteen years prior to 1950, appellant had been elected and re-elected as justice of the peace and had been appointed municipal court judge or police judge in Yakima, a city of the first class. On September 10, 1950, he was a…