Hagler v. Proctor & Gamble Manufacturing Co.

Don Hagler, a forty year employee of Procter & Gamble (P & G), was stopped taking a telephone he believed he owned from the P & G Dallas plant. After an investigation into the incident, the managers of the Dallas P & G plant voted to terminate Hagler for violating P & G’s rule prohibiting theft of company property. The plant manager posted a notice of Hagler’s termination for theft on bulletin boards throughout the plant. The notice remained posted for eight days. Hagler sued Procter & Gamble for libel. The trial court concluded that P & G was entitled to claim qualified privilege in this…