K-Mart Corp., Inc. v. Pendergrass

This is a defamation case involving a corporation and its employee, in which the employee sued her employer and received a jury verdict in her favor. The corporation contends the verdict should have been set aside because the employee failed to prove publication.

On Saturday, February 20, 1982, in the K-Mart store in Scottsboro, a cashier found on the floor $11.05 that she could not account for. The cashier turned the money over to plaintiff, Bonnie Ruth Pendergrass, the checkout supervisor. After a discussion with Ferrill Rankin, the merchandise supervisor, about what to do with the money,…