Empire Printing Company, a Corporation v. Henry Roden, Ernest Gruening and Frank A. Metcalf

The appellees, as plaintiffs below, each filed a separate action against Empire Printing Company, appellant, for defamation as a result of a publication which appeared in the Daily Alaska Empire, a newspaper published by appellant at Juneau, Alaska. The cases were consolidated for trial and tried to a jury which returned verdicts awarding each appellee $1.00 compensatory damages, and $5,-000 punitive damages, and appellant appeals.

At the time of the publication involved, appellee Gruening was Governor of Alaska, appellee Roden was Territorial Treasurer, and appellee Metcalf was Territorial Highway Engineer, and the three together constituted the Territorial Board of Road Commissioners.

Prior to May, 1951, there had been operated under private ownership a ferry, the “Chilkoot”, between Haines and Juneau, Alaska, which closed a gap in the highway between these two points. In May, 1951, the private owners of this ferry announced to Territorial officials that because of increased operating costs they did not intend to operate the ferry during the season of 1951. Faced with the abandonment of the ferry which closed the 65 mile water gap between Juneau and the highways of Alaska and…