Hooper-Holmes Bureau, Inc. v. Bunn

LEE, Circuit Judge.

Appellee, plaintiff below, filed suit against appellant, defendant below, in a Florida State court for slander, based upon three mercantile reports made by the defendant on plaintiff. The defendant removed the cause to the court below. The amended complaint alleged that the defendant had maliciously published libels that brought plaintiff into occupational disrepute. On this appeal the defendant relies upon the defense of qualified privilege rather than the defense of the truth of the published matter. The court denied defendant’s motion for a directed verdict both at the…