"Pregnancy Forces Granny to Quit Work at Age 101"

Nellie Mitchell was 95 years old when she saw this headline next to her picture on the front page of the October 2, 1990 issue of "The Sun" publication. Mother of six children, a pillar in the community of Mountain Home, Arkansas, she was mortified, shocked, humiliated and bewildered.

Turning to the inside story she again saw her picture. This time under the heading:

"Special Delivery"
"World's Oldest Newspaper Carrier, 101, Quits Because She Is Pregnant!"

"I Guess Walking All Those Miles Kept Me Young"
The Sun (a tabloid) is owned by Globe International, Inc., a Canadian publishing company and is nationally distributed in grocery stores and news outlets throughout the United States. Though the article referred to her as Audrey Wiles, the photograph was that of Nellie Mitchell and the story was based on Nellie's long career as a newspaper carrier.

We were retained by People's Bank and Trust Company of Mountain Home, conservator of the estate of Nellie Mitchell, an aged person, to sue Globe International Inc., doing business as "SUN". The attorneys for Nellie Mitchell were Sandy McMath, Phillip McMath, and Roy Danhuser. A federal jury in Harrison, Boone County, Arkansas, returned a verdict on her behalf for the sum of $1.5 million. Globe International promptly filed a petition with the United States Court for a judgment, notwithstanding the jury verdict. Judge Franklin Waters, United States District Judge, having presided at the trial, stood firm supporting the jury's verdict and held that the tabloid must pay for printing "SEWAGE." Sustaining the jury award in a clear, concise, and moving description he stated:

Mrs. Mitchell is a 96-year-old resident of Mountain Home, Arkansas. She has operated a newsstand on the town square since 1963. Prior to that she delivered newspapers on a paper route, and according to the evidence, still makes deliveries to certain "downtown" business establishments and select customers.
It appears that Nellie, as she is known to almost everyone in this small Ozark Mountain town, is a town "landmark" or "treasure". She has cared for herself and raised a family as a single parent for all of these years on what must have been the meager earnings of a "paper gal." According to the evidence, the newspaper stand which she operates was once a short, dead end alley between two commercial buildings on the town square. She apparently gained permission to put a roof over the alley and this became her newsstand and sole source of livelihood, apparently providing life's necessities for her and her family to this day. When one of the lawyers asked Nellie during the course of her testimony whether she lived with her adult daughter, Betty, she quickly replied, "No., Betty lives with me."

One defense of Globe International was that Sun published only fiction and that no one would believe the story about Nellie Mitchell. Other headlines on the front page of the issue showing Nellie's picture were:

Husband & Wife Live Together Without Speaking for 56 Yrs.

Woman claims: I'm mom of Jim Bakker's satanic love child

Brother & Sister Marriage Shocker--After 30 yrs of forbidden love, they would rather go to jail than divorce

Miracle Hormone May Save Girl, 6 Dying of Old Age

Paralyzed woman walks after being hit by lightning

World's most honest cop arrests his own mother

In the midst of these black letter headlines designed to arouse the curiosity of the reader, thereby inducing a sale, was the headline about Nellie. It was bordered in red, printed in large letters--with an arrow pointing to her picture.

Significantly, there was no disclaimer or any explanation or indication that these stories were fiction. In fact, editors of the Sun in their testimony disagreed among themselves as to which stories were fact and which were fiction and as to what parts of the respective stories were true or fantasy.

Attorneys for Globe International in the pursuit of their contention that the article on Nellie Mitchell was fiction, aggressively cross-examined Paul Greenberg, appearing by deposition as a witness for Nellie:

Q: If the author testified that he made up a story, isn't that fiction?

A: Sir, it's false. All things that are false are not necessarily fiction.

Q: Tell me the difference between false and fiction.

A: I can give you an illustration. William Faulkner wrote fiction. Pravda published falsehoods.

According to the story, Audrey Wiles (of Australia) had been delivering morning newspapers for 94 years. However, Audrey Wiles was non-existent and the photographs used were those of Nellie Mitchell, apparently lifted from a story run in 1980 by another publication owned by the defendant, The Examiner. The picture used in the article were the identical pictures used in the Examiner story.

Defendant contended that the Sun usually used photographs of people who are nonresidents of the United States, thereby avoiding defamation suits in this country. It used the photograph of Nellie Mitchell in this case because, "they believed that she was dead."

The nonexistent Audrey Wiles from Australia (in the article carrying a photograph of Nellie Mitchell with an accurate description of her as a newspaper "gal") is quoted as saying, "When I made my weekly collections to get paid, Will always invited me in for a bite to eat and gave me a big tip. We became friends and before we knew it, we had fallen in love with each other."--"Will and I should get married soon so we can raise our child in the right way."

Other inside pages of the Sun issue in question contained what appeared to be news stories. Among these were:

HIGHWAY TO HELL--Wicked witch casts her deadly curse on intersection mangling 21 -- accompanied by graphic photographs of mangled automobiles sitting at an intersection where the "witch" had caused a serious accident.
DRUG DEALERS' DEVIL DOGS REPLACE PIT BULLS
BOY, 12, GETS OWN LAWYER TO DIVORCE DAD IN CUSTODY FIGHT
Revealed for first time: CHURCHILL'S CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH UFO ALIENS -- the articles disclose that, although Winston Churchill implored them to do so, they declined to help the world defeat Hitler.
Mothers describe night of terror during ... 20-MILE RIDE WITH A HEADLESS GHOST
'DEAD MAN' REVIVES AS DOCS TAKE ORGANS
ROAD KILL CANNIBAL -- He eats accident victims -- a news story., accompanied by a photograph of a black man whom, the story says, had applied to the government of the "African country of Swaziland" to be allowed to pick up from along roadsides and eat bodies of persons killed on the roadway. He describes the taste of human flesh, saying that he prefers adult meat because it is "firm, succulent and salty and doesn't require seasonings," while, on the other hand, "children's meat is revolting because it tastes sweet and sticks to the teeth."
FARMER BECOMES MILLIONAIRE MAKING WHIPS FOR WIFE BEATERS -- the story which at least one of the defendant's "authors" thought to be true.
HELL SCHOOL ... Where students are chained to learn and whipped if they don't read properly.
STUDENTS KILL TEACHER WITH VOODOO DOLL
FARMER KILLS SELF BY BREATHING COW GAS -- He dies with his beloved animals

Defendant, Globe International, in support of its motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, argued that there was no evidence of an obvious injury to Nellie Mitchell, that she consulted no doctor, incurred no medical expenses, had no apparent injury resulting from the Sun article. In response to this argument, Judge Waters in his opinion denying Globe's motion stated:

It may be, as defendant in essence argues, that Mrs. Mitchell does not show a great deal of obvious injury, but a reasonable juror might conclude, after hearing the evidence and viewing the Sun article in question, that Nellie Mitchell's experience could be likened to that of a person who had been dragged slowly through a pile of untreated sewage. After that person had showered and a few weeks have passed, there would be little remaining visible evidence of the ordeal which the person had endured and the resulting damages incurred, but few would doubt that substantial damage had been inflicted by the one doing the dragging. This court is certainly in no better position to determine what that is "worth" than 8 jurors picked from the citizenry of the Harrison Division of the Western District of Arkansas to hear and decide this case. The court concludes that reasonable jurors could find that it is "worth" a great deal to suddenly find your likeness buried in the slime of which this publication was made, directly in front of an article describing the relative tastiness of adult human flesh compared to that of children. (Emphasis supplied)

Sandy McMath, co-counsel for Nellie, in his closing arguments had recommended one dollar for each copy of the Sun which was sold with Mrs. Mitchell's picture -- almost 370,000 -- $1,000 per day for each day from the time the photo ran until an apology and retraction was printed November 12, 1991-- 406 days -- plus $1 million for pain and anguish. The total award brought in by the jury was $1.7 million substantially as had been recommended by plaintiff's attorney.

An Attorney for Globe International in the defense of Sun's action in publishing the photograph and story about Nellie Mitchell in closing argument called the article, "A simple love story. A sweet love story about two elderly people. What is defamatory about that?" He asked the jurors. Phillip McMath, co-counsel for Nellie, in his rebuttal, in response to defense counsel's statement that all it had done was to tell a little love story, argued, "To say this is a love story, a sweet little love story, is about as outrageous as the story itself--the truth is not in this--falsehood is their stock in trade, lies are what they sell."

The jury having been instructed by the court after deliberating almost four hours, returned a finding that the Sun had invaded Mrs. Mitchell's privacy by showing her in a false light and that it was liable for insult and outrageous conduct.

The Globe appealed the case to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals which, after reviewing the facts, the transcript and the opinion of Judge Waters, affirmed the judgment for punitive damages in the sum of $850,000 and reduced the compensatory award to $150,000, affirming a total award on behalf of People's Bank & Trust Company, conservator for the estate of Nellie Mitchell, in the sum of $1 million. The final award to Nellie, including interest and costs was $1.1 million.
Globe International petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States for a writ to review the case. The petition was denied.

So Nellie Mitchell, having carried a paper route and operated a newsstand for over 30 years, supporting and rearing her six children as a single parent, obtained justice in a court of law. This judgment and award demonstrated dramatically that the common law and the right of trial by jury are still the citizen's main line of defense against corporate abuse.

This was not a victory only for Nellie Mitchell, her family, and news carriers who will benefit from the Nellie Mitchell Trust Fund, but is a victory for the right of privacy. It sends a message to the tabloids that they cannot create sensational falsehood about private citizens without being held responsible in a court of law.

The jury verdict and the award rendered in the case of Nellie Mitchell again goes to the heart of what America is all about. It demonstrates the indispensability of our civil justice system in making it possible for our complex society to function. It demonstrates again that a jury drawn from different backgrounds with different minds and hearts and life's experiences can come together and, representing the public conscience, hold wrongdoers accountable.

The American jury, the "twelve good men and true," is the people's main line of defense against corporate abuse; libel and slander; invasion of privacy; pollution of the environment; introducing into the stream of commerce defective products; and willful, wanton, malicious injury.

The right of trial by jury reflects America's devotion to justice, fair play, the worth and dignity of the individual.
In the case of Nellie Mitchell justice was done; a wrong righted; and notice given to the tabloid press that they too have a responsibility, that there still exists in our society bounds of fairness and decency beyond which they cannot transgress with impunity.

Nellie Mitchell, a contented 97-year-old lady remained a "treasure" and a pillar of strength in her community of Mountain Home, Arkansas. The only apparent change in her life was that she gave her newsstand and no longer made deliveries on her paper route.

Nellie Mitchell died December 30, 1998 at the age of 103. Nellie died peacefully at home surrounded by her family and loving and caring neighbors. The local newspaper carried a half page story on her life and death and included a color photograph of this remarkable woman.

Nellie was a good citizen, a provider for her family. She had worked all of her adult life. She began carrying a paper route when her husband left her in 1943. She had six children to support and she continued to carry her paper route until 1991 - half a century.

Nellie was a small woman, but she possessed a physical and inner strength that tolerated no obstacle. Not deterred by cold weather, rain, sleet or snow, her customers received their newspapers. In discussing her work, Nellie once said, "If you like what you are doing, it is not hard work."

A neighbor had this to say about Nellie, "Not only did she carry the newspapers, she could discuss intelligently anything that was in them."

After Nellie collected her judgment from the tabloid, her style of life remained unchanged. She continued her life as a caring mother, grandmother, a good neighbor and a model citizen of Mountain Home, Arkansas. Had Nellie Mitchell lived two more years, she would have had the rare experience of living in three centuries (She lived 1895 - 1998).

Eulogizing Nellie Mitchell, Sandy McMath, her friend and co-counsel in her lawsuit, described her as "a heroine of freedom of the press and the right of the citizen to be left alone."
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1 Peoples Bank Trust Company of Mountain Home v. Globe International, Inc., 786 F.Supp. 791 (W.D.Ark.
1992), at 792
2 Paul Greenberg, Editorial Page Editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock, Arkansas
3 Id., at 796

4 Id., at 796

5 Attorneys for Nellie Mitchell were Sandy McMath, Phillip McMath, and Roy Danhuser