147 N.Y. 59 | NY | 1895
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The primary purpose of the article published in The New YorkTimes November 26, 1886, containing the defamatory matter for which the action was brought, was to expose the conduct of TheSun in officiously offering to pay, and in subsequently paying the claim of Holmes Co., for alleged services in embalming and caring for the body of General Grant, after the claim had been repudiated by his family and its justice had become the subject of public comment. The offer to pay the bill made in the columns of The Sun, which, as was stated by Holmes Co. in their letter of October 4, 1886, "was under no legal or moral obligation" to pay it, appended to a statement which imputed to the family of General Grant in their dealings with Holmes Co., a disregard of honor and moral obligation, was well calculated to wound the feelings of the members of the family and to excite the indignation of their friends and the friends of the illustrious soldier whose name was associated with the transaction. The offer carried an implication that the family of General *66
Grant had disregarded and refused to recognize an honest claim for services connected with the preparation of his body for burial, which, if well founded, would justly expose them to animadversion. This was the occasion for the article in TheTimes, and the plaintiff had made himself a party to the controversy by his letter to The Sun of October 4, 1886, in which he put himself in the attitude of having a just claim for services rendered for the amount of the bill rendered by Holmes
Co., which the family of General Grant had declined to recognize, and, to accentuate the alleged injustice with which he was treated, he intimated his willingness to accept the public offer of a stranger to the transaction to pay the claim in case "those whom we think are legally and morally bound to pay the claim do not sooner recognize their obligation by its payment." The plaintiff had, by his own act in writing the letter of October 4, 1886, thrust himself and his conduct into the arena of public discussion, and, as might reasonably have been anticipated, the charge made against the family of General Grant of delaying and repudiating the payment of an honest claim was met by public denial in the New York papers, and a public criticism of the origin and character of the claim asserted by Holmes Co. The defendant failed to establish before the jury the justification set up in the answer to the statement in the article in TheTimes, that the plaintiff was intoxicated in the afternoon and evening of July 23, 1885, during his alleged employment at Mount McGregor. The evidence upon the point was conflicting, but the finding of the jury determines the fact in favor of the plaintiff. The plaintiff was, therefore, entitled to recover damages for this misstatement. It was defamatory, and while there is no ground to suppose that the statement was instigated by actual malice or ill-will towards the plaintiff, its absence constitutes no answer to the claim for damages. The publication of a libel is a wrongful act, presumably injurious to those persons to whom it relates, and in the absence of legal excuse gives a right of recovery irrespective of the intent of the defendant who published it, and this *67
although he had reason to believe the statement to be true, and was actuated by an honest or even commendable motive in making the publication. But the amount of damages in an action for libel is peculiarly within the province of the jury. The jury may give nominal damages, or damages to a greater or less amount, as they shall determine. The jury may accord damages which are merely compensatory, or damages beyond mere compensation, called punitive or vindictive damages, by way of example or punishment, when in their judgment the defendant was incited by actual malice or acted wantonly or recklessly in making the defamatory charge. (Taylor v. Church,
The judgment should be reversed and a new trial ordered.
All concur.
Judgment reversed.