Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Court orders lowering of $1.5 million award Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 11:28:29 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION;AMERICAN SCENE;MIDWEST \HD Court orders lowering of $1.5 million award \BY FROM WIRE DISPATCHES AND STAFF REPORTS \DT ST. LOUIS ST. LOUIS - A federal appeals court ordered a judge to reduce the $1.5 million award to a woman falsely identified by a supermarket tabloid as a 101-year-old pregnant newspaper carrier. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the $850,000 awarded in punitive damages against the weekly Sun but found the jury's $650,000 compensatory award "shockingly inflated." A photo of Nellie Mitchell, 96, of Mountain Home, Ark., was published in a 1990 article. She was identified as a 101-year-old Australian newspaper carrier who quit her route because she became pregnant by a millionaire customer. An editor of the newspaper said during the trial that he selected Mrs. Mitchell's picture because he assumed she was dead. The picture originally appeared in 1980 in another publication owned by the Sun's parent company, Canada-based Globe Communications Corp. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM