Henry v. Pearson

158 So. 2d 695, 253 Miss. 62, 1963 Miss. LEXIS 551
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 16, 1963
Docket42758
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 158 So. 2d 695 (Henry v. Pearson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henry v. Pearson, 158 So. 2d 695, 253 Miss. 62, 1963 Miss. LEXIS 551 (Mich. 1963).

Opinion

*67 Kyle, J.

This case is before ns on appeal by Aaron E. Henry, defendant in the court below, from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Coahoma County rendered in favor of Thomas H. Pearson, plaintiff, in an action for damages for libel. The case is a companion case to the case of Henry v. Collins, No. 42,759, which was decided by this Court on December 2, 1963, 253 Miss. 34, 158 So. 2d 695.

The plaintiff’s action for libel was based on a letter written by the defendant to W. C. Norwood, the deputy sheriff of Bolivar County, containing references to the plaintiff, who was county attorney of Coahoma County, and a statement communicated by the defendant to Lloyd B. Jeffers, a news reporter in the employ of United Press International news agency, under circumstances said to insure its being printed in those newspapers in Mississippi which subscribed to its service, and a statement communicated by the defendant to Van H. Saveli, a news reporter in the employ of the Associated Press, under circumstances said to insure its being published in those newspapers in Mississippi which were members of the Associated Press.

The letter written by the defendant to W. C. Nor-wood, deputy sheriff of Bolivar County, was dated March 6, 1963. In his letter the writer thanked the deputy sheriff for the fair manner in which he was treated while he was in custody as a prisoner on Saturday night, March 3, 1962. The writer then stated in his letter to Norwood the following:

“You will probably see in print where I have filed a complaint with the Justice Department charging a denial of Civil Bights in the arrest itself. The complaint states that in my opinion the charge under which I was arrested was born in the minds of the County Attorney and the Chief of Police of my town due to my activity in the area of desegregation, registering and voting and politics as I serve on the committee of the *68 Trammel to Congress Committee, sponsoring a Negro for Congress. Also these two men are against me due to my activity in suggesting to Negroes that we all trade in those stores that employ us and hire us above the menial level.

“What I want to he clearly understood that I am not charging nor am I of the opinion that you nor any other authority of Bolivar County is a party to this diabolical plot. I do think that the two men above mentioned has schemed with some person to make the charge in Bolivar County and unknowingly Bolivar County is being used to some extent as a party in the Racial difficulties of Coahoma County * * V’

The statement which was communicated by the defendant to Lloyd B. Jeffers, a news reporter in the employ of U. P. I. and which was sent by U. P. I. to the Clarksdale Press-Register, The Daily Corinthian, The Delta Democrat-Times, and The Meridian Star, and published by each of those newspapers in its edition of Wednesday, March 7, 1962, is as follows:

“Clarksdale, Miss. (UPI) •— Aaron Henry, state president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said Tuesday night he had asked the FBI to investigate his arrest on Saturday on a morals charge.

“Henry issued a statement saying he had filed a formal complaint with the Justice Department charging his civil rights had been violated by officers from nearby Bolivar County and Clarksdale.

“He was arrested Saturday night by Police Chief Ben Collins on a Bolivar County warrant charging him with disturbing the peace by allegedly making immoral advances to an 18-year-old white youth.

( i * $ *

“Henry called the arrest ‘a diabolical plot cooked up’ by the Coahoma County prosecutor, Thomas H. Pearson, and Collins * *

*69 The statement which was communicated by the defendant Henry to Van H. Saveli, news reporter in the employ of the Associated Press, and incorporated in a news item which was sent by the A. P. to the Vicksburg Evening Post and The Biloxi-G-ulfport Daily Herald, and published in each of those newspapers on March 7, 1962, was substantially the same as that given to the representative of the U.P.I.

The plaintiff filed his declaration on April 25, 1962, and in his declaration charged that the statements made by the defendant in his letter to W. C. Norwood, deputy sheriff of Bolivar County, dated March 6, 1962, and the statements communicated to the news reporters of United Press International and the Associated Press in the City of Jackson concerning the plaintiff were false, defamatory and libelous, and the publications thereof by the defendant were unprivileged, and directly, without qualification, accused the plaintiff of misconduct and malfeasance in office as the county prosecuting attorney of Coahoma County, and unequivocally attributed unto the plaintiff as an attorney at law a gross violation of the Code of Ethics of the legal profession; and that the natural and proximate consequences of said publications had caused and would necessarily thereafter cause injury to the plaintiff in his personal social, official, business and professional life, thereby exposing him to public hatred, contempt and ridicule, and causing irreparable damage and injury to his reputation and good standing in the community. The plaintiff therefore demanded judgment for damages in the amount of $25,-000. Copies of the letter addressed to Mr. Norwood, deputy sheriff of Bolivar County, and the above mentioned news releases of the U.P.I. and A.P. dated March 6, 1962, and published in the above mentioned newspapers, were attached as exhibits to the plaintiff’s declaration.

The defendant in his answer admitted that he wrote the letter which was addressed to W. C. Norwood, deputy *70 sheriff of Bolivar County, hut denied that the letter was maliciously prepared and further denied that it was defamatory and libelous. The defendant also denied that he had maliciously prepared and published of and concerning the plaintiff false statements by deliberately communicating the same to the officers of the U.P.I. and the A.P. in Jackson, as alleged in the plaintiff’s declaration. The defendant denied that he had communicated to the U.P.I. and A.P. false defamatory and libelous statements; and the defendant denied that he had caused to be published any unprivileged publications, which accused the plaintiff of misconduct and malfeasance in office, or which attributed to the plaintiff, as an attorney at law, a gross violation of the Code of Ethics of the legal profession; and the defendant further denied that, as a natural and proximate consequence of any statements published by him, injury had been caused or would thereafter be caused to the plaintiff in his personal, social, official business and professional life.

The case was tried before a jury at the July 1962 term of the court; and the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the sum of $25,000. The court overruled the defendant’s motion for a new trial, and a judgment was entered in favor of the plaintiff against the defendant for the amount stated in the verdict of the jury. Prom that judgment the defendant has prosecuted this appeal.

The appellant has assigned and argued four points as grounds for reversal of the judgment of the lower court: (1) That the court erred in overruling the defendant’s challenge of the juror, L. R.

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Bluebook (online)
158 So. 2d 695, 253 Miss. 62, 1963 Miss. LEXIS 551, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henry-v-pearson-miss-1963.