Lay v. Gazette Pub. Co.

• Citation: 183 S.E. 416,209 N.C. 134
• Decision Date: 22 January 1936
• Docket Number: 548.
• Parties: LAY v. GAZETTE PUB. CO.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

183 S.E. 416

209 N.C. 134

LAY v. GAZETTE PUB. CO.

No. 548.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

January 22, 1936

Appeal from Superior Court, Gaston County; Hill, Special Judge.

Action by Thomas L. Lay against the Gazette Publishing Company. From a judgment dismissing the action as of nonsuit, plaintiff appeals.

Reversed.

In action for libel based on publication of false statement that plaintiff had been arrested for leading and participating in riot, whether plaintiff had suffered actual damages held for jury.

This is an action to recover damages, both actual and punitive, for the malicious publication by the defendant in the issue of its newspaper, the Gastonia Daily Gazette, of September 6 1934, of a news item concerning the plaintiff which, it is alleged in the complaint, is false and libelous.

The plaintiff is now and was prior to September 6, 1934, a textile operative. He is about 33 years of age, and prior to said date had been employed from time to time, since he was 16 years of age, by manufacturers of textiles in Gaston and other counties in North Carolina. He was and is now dependent upon such employment as a means of earning a living for himself and his wife and children. During the year 1934 he was a resident of Lincoln county, N. C., where, prior to September 6, 1934, he had been employed by a textile manufacturer doing business in said county. Commencing during the spring of 1934 and continuing through the summer and until some time during the fall of 1934, there was a strike by textile operatives in Lincoln county, and in other counties in North Carolina. The plaintiff, as a member of the textile union which had ordered the strike, at its commencement joined in the strike. Neither the plaintiff nor his wife, who is also a textile operative, have been able to secure employment by a manufacturer of textiles, doing business in North Carolina, since the ending of the strike some time during the fall of 1934.

The defendant is the publisher of the Gastonia Daily Gazette, a newspaper which circulates throughout Gaston county, and other counties in North Carolina. Among its subscribers and readers are officers and employees of textile mills, and others interested in the manufacture of textiles.

In its issue of September 6, 1934, the defendant published in the Gastonia Daily Gazette a news item as follows:

"Seventy-Five Pickets Locked Up in Lincolnton.

Lincolnton N.C. Sept. 6th. Seventy-five men and women at the Roseland Mill were jailed this afternoon by Sheriff Forney Reinhart on charges of trespassing. They were interfering with the paying off of a group of Loyal Workers, and became incensed when they did not receive any pay. They created a disturbance on the mill grounds and were promptly arrested and thrown into the county jail. Tom Lay, Local Union Leader, was among the ring leaders arrested.

Other Union Leaders said that the flying squadron at Shelby had been notified, and that they were en route to Lincolnton to free their seventy-five comrades from jail. County officers here were prepared to resist them. The county jail is full, as the Sheriff has been very active."

Thereafter the plaintiff wrote and caused to be delivered to the defendant a letter as follows:

"Lincolnton, N. C., Dec. 31, 1934.

Mr. H. A. Querry, Editor,

Gastonia Daily Gazette,

Gastonia, N. C.

Dear Mr. Editor:

The news article printed in The Gastonia Daily Gazette on Thursday, 6 Sept. 1934, on the front page of your paper, stating that 'Tom Lay, Local Union Leader, was among the ring leaders', is false and defamatory and each and every word related in said article hereinafter mentioned concerning me is false and defamatory. The said article in reference more particularly reads as follows: (Here follows copy of the news item as published by the defendant in the issue of the Gastonia Daily Gazette on 6 Sept. 1934)

I hope to hear from you in the immediate future. I want the correction and a retraction made.

Yours truly, Tom Lay,

Lincolnton N. C."

Thereafter in the issue of its newspaper, the Gastonia Daily Gazette, dated January 2, 1935, the defendant published the following:

"Tom Lay was Not Arrested Sept. 6.

Gazette corrects error relative to arrest of Tom Lay in connection with strike riots.

On Sept. 6, 1934, the Gazette published a story from its Lincolnton correspondent about the arrest of pickets at the Roseland Mill in Lincoln County. It was stated in the story on the authority of the Lincolnton correspondent that Tom Lay was one of the ring leaders in the strike, and was placed in jail. The Gazette learns from Mr. Lay and from the Sheriff of Lincoln County that he was not arrested. In justice to Mr. Lay, this newspaper corrects the mistaken report. Mr. Lay was not arrested. This correction is made in line with the policy of this newspaper in correcting any mistakes in the publications that may be made and it is glad to make the correction in the interest of truth and accuracy."

All the evidence at the trial showed that the plaintiff was not arrested in Lincolnton on September 6, 1934; that he was not placed in jail in said county; and that he took no part as leader or otherwise in any disorder that day at the Roseland Mill. The plaintiff was a member of the United Textile Workers and was active in presenting the cause of the union to his fellow operatives and to the public. He made speeches and published articles in the local newspapers in support of the union and its policies.

Evidence offered by the plaintiff showed that he is a man of good character, and was a good worker.

A. F. Reinhart, as a witness for the plaintiff, testified as follows: "I am Sheriff of Lincoln County. I took Tom Lay with me to the Roseland Mill on 6 September 1934, because I wanted a Union man to handle the Union people. He told them to do what they did peaceably. I have known Tom Lay all my life. His general reputation is good. He was a Union man, not prominent, but stood pretty high with the Union people. I looked on him as one of their leaders. I did not arrest him on 6 Sept. 1934 and did not tell any one that I had."

W. E. Buff, as a witness for the plaintiff, testified as follows: "I am Chief Deputy of Lincoln County. I have known Tom Lay off and on for thirty years. His character is good. He went with me and came back with me from the Roseland Mills on 6 September 1934. There was no disturbance or violence at the mill that day among the people there. They were simply milling around and talking. Tom Lay went to the jail and talked to the 40-odd prisoners there. He told them that he would have them bonded out by sundown. He talked like one in authority."

Robert A. Wood, as a witness for the plaintiff, testified as follows: "I am Superintendent of the Gray Mill. I know Tom Lay. He worked for me about fifteen years ago. His general character and reputation are very good. He was high strung and arbitrary. Outside of that he was all right. He would scrap a little if necessary. He has not applied to me for work since September 1934."

There was evidence for the plaintiff tending to show that neither he nor his wife had been able to get work as textile operatives since the publication by the defendant in its newspaper of the news item on September 6, 1934, although both had applied to officers of numerous cotton mills for work.

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