Time, Inc. v. Hill

385 U.S. 374 (1967)

Facts

Hill (P), his wife, and five children were held hostage for 19 hours in their suburban Philadelphia home by three escaped convicts. They released the family without any harm, but the story made the front pages of the newspapers when the police subsequently killed two of the convicts and captured the third. Ps moved to Connecticut shortly after the incident. In 1955, Time (D) published an article that told of a new Broadway thriller, Desperate Hours, about the novel called by the same name. The article said the family rose in heroism in the time of crisis. The article included pictures of scenes from the play that were reenacted in P's Philadelphia home. P sued under Sections 50-51 of the New York Civil Rights Law; D's publication of the issues gave the impression that the play was true when in fact it did not accurately recount P's actual experience and that D knew the article was false and untrue. D answered that the article was published in good faith and without any malice. The trial court instructed the jury that liability under the statute depended upon a finding that D's article was published not to disseminate news, but as a fictionalized version of the incident and for the purpose of advertising the play or increasing the magazine's circulation. The court also instructed the jury that punitive damages were justified if the jury found that D falsely connected P with the play knowingly or through failure to make a reasonable investigation, and that personal malice need not be found if there was reckless or wanton disregard of P's rights. P eventually got the verdict, and the New York Court of Appeals affirmed; D's fictionalized account of P's personal life, used in an unauthorized biography was not protected by the newsworthy defense and that P as a public figure did not have to meet the actual malice standard under New York Times. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.