Gregory L. Porter v. Guam Publications, Inc.

This action is an appeal from a judgment of the District Court of Guam, entered on March 30, 1979, following a jury verdict holding defendant-appellant Guam Publications, Inc. (“defendant”) liable to plaintiffappellee Gregory Porter (“Porter”) for libel, in the amount of $25,000. The case has previously been before this court. In an identically styled decision reported at 475 F.2d 744 (9th Cir. 1973), we affirmed the District Court’s order granting summary judgment for defendant, on the basis of the constitutional libel privileges then existing which largely immunized from libel newspapers’ reporting of public events:

475 F.2d at 745 .

This judgment was subsequently vacated by the United States Supreme Court and remanded “for further consideration in light of Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., [ 418 U.S. 323 , 94 S.Ct. 2997 , 41 L.Ed.2d 789 (1974)].” 418 U.S. 908 , 94 S.Ct. 3200 , 41 L.Ed.2d 1155 (1974). In a per curiam order reported at 503 F.2d 561 (9th Cir. 1974), we stated that

Porter’s libel claim, successfully prosecuted after our remand to the District Court, arises from a news item in the “Police Blotter” section of the February 28, 1971 edition of the Pacific Daily News…