| N.Y. Sup. Ct. | Oct 17, 1894
This is an action of libel brought by the plaintiff, a resident of the village of Medina, Orleans county, against the defendant, as the proprietor and publisher of the Buffalo Evening News, a daily newspaper published in the city of Buffalo, for publishing in said paper an article which charged the plaintiff with having been guilty of the crime of bigamy. The article was concededly libelous, and it was unquestionably published of and concerning the plaintiff; the reporter for the paper, who wrote the article and caused it to be published, so testified, and an article subsequently published by the defendant in the paper in substance so stated. An action had theretofore been commenced in the supreme court, county of Erie, by a Sirs. Louisa Weber, against Clem Weber, to annul a marriage between the parties, on the ground that at the time of their said marriage the defendant had a wife who was then living, and which prior marriage was at the time in full force. A motion had been made in the divorce action, founded upon the pleadings, in said action and affidavits, for a com
The jury were justified in finding from the evidence that it was a careless and reckless act to publish the article under the circumstances disclosed, and if they so found they were at liberty to award punitive damages. Holmes v. Jones, 121 N.Y. 461" court="NY" date_filed="1890-06-03" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/holmes-v--jones-3586339?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="3586339">121 N. Y. 461, 24 N. E. 701; Warner v. Publishing Co., 132 N.Y. 181" court="NY" date_filed="1892-03-15" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/warner-v-press-publishing-co-3588195?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="3588195">132 N. Y. 181, 30 N. E. 393. This case is distinguishable from the case of Hanson v. Newspaper Co., 159 Mass. 293, 34 N. E. 462, to which our attention is called in the appellant’s brief. In that case the trial court found that the article complained of was not published of or concerning the plaintiff. Neither did he find that the publisher was guilty of carelessness or negligence in publishing the article. Not so here. We do not think the verdict in this case, of $800, was so excessive as to justify us in disturbing it. The defendant’s paper had at the time the article was published a daily circulation of over 50,000 copies. Several hundred copies were circulated in the village where the plaintiff resided with his family, consisting of a wife and children, and where he was engaged at the time in the business of a dry-goods merchant.
We do not find, after a careful examination of the case and the -exceptions of the defendant, any good ground for disturbing the verdict. The judgment and order appealed from should be affirmed. All concur.