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interfered with petitioner's future employment within the meat-packing
industry; (4) IBP libeled petitioner by publishing and circulating the
Peterson letter; and (5) IBP invaded petitioner's privacy. In the complaint,
petitioner asked for $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in
punitive damages.
The jurisdiction of the District Court in the IBP suit and the Bagley
suit was based on diversity of citizenship. Some of the claims made by
petitioner in his suit against IBP alleged physical injuries which he
sustained as a result of IBP's conduct. Petitioner had suffered a heart
attack after IBP took his deposition for 1 straight week. This was the third
deposition of petitioner that IBP had taken. The IBP suit and the Bagley suit
were consolidated for trial. Prior to trial, IBP voluntarily dismissed its
claim for compensatory and punitive damages. Petitioner's abuse of process
claim was dismissed prior to trial on the ground that the statute of
limitations on that claim had expired. The remaining claims were tried before
a jury between December 13 and December 29, 1982.
The District Court's instructions to the jury respecting libel, in part,
stated that--
The words complained of by the plaintiff in the Peterson
letter, specifically, that "he stole 7 boxes of IBP documents" and
that "Bagley's version of IBP's quantity discount program is
absolutely false, and ...constitutes perjury," are libelous per se
in that the words themselves tend to disgrace and degrade him.
Such words create a legal presumption of their falsity thus
shifting to the defendant the burden of proving the truth of the
statements by a preponderance of the evidence. * * *
With respect to punitive damages for libel, the District Court instructed the
jury that--
If you find that plaintiff has established the essential
elements of his libel claim and if you find, on the basis of clear
and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with actual
malice in publishing the writing in question, then you may award
the plaintiff punitive damages in addition to the actual damages
assessed. Punitive damages are designed to punish the offender
and serve as an example to others. Whether or not to award such
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