A.S. Abell Company v. Kirby

The Baltimore police commissioner was charged with misconduct. After a hearing, the governor concluded that the commissioner’s indiscretions did not warrant removal. The Morning Sun newspaper published an editorial describing the hearing as a “kangaroo court” and stating that every important witness was “a man with a motive . . . especially the infamous Kirby, former Inspector Forrester, and former Chief Inspector Ford.” Edgar Kirby (plaintiff), the police officer described as “infamous,” sued the newspaper’s publisher, A.S. Abell Company (Abell) (defendant) for defamation. Abell’s defense was that the editorial was fair comment on a matter of public interest. There was evidence at trial that Kirby had refused to testify at a hearing on illegal wiretapping; along with other members of the rackets division, had been a witness or involved in cases that had been reversed or deferred; had been charged with planting false evidence and refusing to obey a superior’s orders, and had been dismissed from the police force. The jury returned a verdict for Kirby. On appeal, Abell argued that the trial court erred in making the fair-comment determination turn on whether the facts in the editorial supported the statement that Kirby was infamous and in not permitting the jury to consider Kirby’s police-department activities, which Abell claimed were well known in the community.