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262 N.C. 487

137 S.E.2d 846

Jones v. Hester

Supreme Court of North Carolina

Decided September 23, 1964

Supreme Court of North Carolina · decided 1964-09-23

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently August 1988

4 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““The verdict on Issue No. 1 [publication of the libel] entitled the plaintiff to nominal damages. Any further compensatory damages (other than nominal) could be awarded only upon the basis of proof, by the greater weight of the evidence. The answer to Issue No. 2 [malice] permitted the jury to award punitive damages in its discretion, not as a matter of right, but as punishment for intentional wrongdoing.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including RH Bouligny, Inc. v. United Steelworkers of Amer.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1964-09-23

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Per Curiam.

¶1 The plaintiff insists the trial' court committed errors relating to the first and second issues. If errors there be, they were not prejudicial for the reason that the answers to those issues were favorable to the plaintiff. The verdict on Issue No. 1 entitled the plaintiff to nominal damages. Any further compensatory damages (other than nominal) could be awarded only upon the basis of proof, by the greater weight of the evidence. The answer to Issue No. 2 permitted the jury to award punitive damages in its discretion, not as a matter of right, but as punishment for intentional wrongdoing. The damages to be awarded, therefore, were matters to be decided by the jury as issues of fact and not by the court as questions of law. The court did not commit error in refusing to set aside the issues as to damages.

¶2 In the verdict and judgment, we find

¶3 No error.

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