As solemnly as a referee pacing off a long penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, the clerk of the federal court in Atlanta read the verdict: "We, the jury, find in favor of Wallace Butts in the sum of $60,000. We find that Wallace Butts is entitled to recover punitive damages from Curtis Publishing Co. We assess punitive damages from Curtis Publishing Co. We assess punitive damages in the sum of $3,000,000."
It was one of the largest libel judgments in U.S. legal history.*
Like a Champ. The resounding figures reflected the Georgia jury's opinion of the casual journalism of the Saturday Evening Post,...
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