stating that “defamation turns on whether the communication or publication tends, or is reasonably calculated, to cause harm to another’s reputation, and it is not necessary for plaintiff to prove that this was its actual result”
How later courts described this case
- stating that “defamation turns on whether the communication or publication tends, or is reasonably calculated, to cause harm to another’s reputation, and it is not necessary for plaintiff to prove that this was its actual result”
- explaining that a defamatory statement “must be taken as a whole, and in the sense in which it would be understood by readers to whom it was addressed”
- holding that "defamation turns on whether the communication or publication tends, or is reasonably calculated, to cause harm to another’s reputation.”
- stating that the law of libel protects the interest in reputation which is "inherent in the essential dignity and worth of every human being"
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
WASHINGTON, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurs in the affirmance of the judgment awarding compensatory damages to appellee, for the reasons stated in his opinion filed May 27, 1965. He did not participate in the decision of the question whether to reverse the portion of the judgment of the District Court which awards punitive damages to appellee.