#Peroria journal star trial#
#Peroria journal star plus#

The defendant appealed directly to this court claiming State and Federal constitutional questions. Judgment was entered against defendant upon the verdict.

#Peroria journal star plus#

The plaintiff Robert Lulay obtained a jury verdict for $150,000 ($60,000 in compensatory damages plus $90,000 in punitive damages) against the Peoria Journal-Star, Inc.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the circuit court of Peoria County in an action for libel.

#Peroria journal star trial#

The plaintiff had the obligation both upon the motion for summary judgment and at the trial to adduce all of the evidence he believed would satisfy his burden. App.2d 33.) Although the plaintiff contends that the defendant here was guilty of actual malice, plaintiff did not offer any evidence remotely creating an issue of fact as to whether defendant's news article was conceived or inspired solely because of a malicious design to injure the plaintiff or his business. 525, 305 P.2d 817.) As expressed in the Restatement of Torts, section 611, a publication reporting government proceedings is nonactionable unless published 'solely for the purpose of causing harm to the person defamed.' The burden of proving actual malice is always upon the plaintiff, and it would not be the ordinary case where a plaintiff could establish that a news report or discussion of governmental activities was only published because of actual malice.

The privilege to report governmental acts or utterances can only be defeated by proving that a particular publication was motivated solely by actual malice.

The right to report the activities of 'a municipal corporation or of a body empowered by law to perform a public duty is privileged, although it contains matter which is false and defamatory, if it is (a) accurate and complete or a fair abridgment of such proceedings, and (b) not made solely for the purpose of causing harm to the person defamed.' The privilege plainly includes the right to report the activities of such agencies as the Peoria Health Department.

Section 611 of the Restatement of Torts definitely expresses the prevailing, if not unanimous, weight of judicial authority. The plaintiff concedes here that a privilege to report government proceedings exists, but contends that it does not encompass the acts, declarations or records of agencies at the lower levels of government, such as the Peoria Health Department.