Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Coastal Transmission Service, Inc.

Sognier, Judge.

Coastal Transmission Service, Inc. (Coastal) and its president and owner, Richard Barrow, sued Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company (Southern Bell) for libel. The alleged libel appeared in Coastal’s display advertisement in the 1981 Southern Bell yellow pages telephone directory. Instead of the Coastal slogan, “Get it in gear,” Southern Bell printed the words, “Get it in rear.” Barrow’s name appeared in the body of the ad as the owner of Coastal. Both plaintiffs alleged that the ad exposed them to public hatred, contempt, and ridicule, causing injury to their…