Heard v. Neighbor Newspapers, Inc.

Pope, Judge.

Plaintiff Jeanette Heard brought this libel action against defendant Neighbor Newspapers, Inc., and C. Randall Doster in regard to an article which appeared on the front page of the newspaper’s October 21, 1982 edition. The article reported that according to Doster, an investigator with the Georgia Department of Human Resources Office of Fraud and Abuse, plaintiff Heard had pled guilty to an indictment for welfare fraud and had paid $10,939 to the clerk of the Paulding County Superior Court as restitution. In fact, plaintiff pled not guilty but agreed to make restitution of the…