ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606120049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
The Collegiate Times' lawyer said no one could take literally the "Director of Butt Licking" title that the Virginia Tech student newspaper printed beneath a quote and name of a university official in April.
But Sharon D. Yeagle is still offended. The assistant to the vice president for student affairs, whose name appeared with the erroneous title, filed an $850,000 defamation lawsuit against the student paper.
Yeagle would not comment about the lawsuit, but she contends in court papers the phrase damaged her reputation and caused her humiliation and financial loss.
But lawyer Daniel Brown, representing the newspaper, said the average reader would not take the title seriously and would know it was either a spoof or printed accidentally.
"I do not see it as a case involving any kind of serious damage," Brown said. "I can't see where she has suffered any financial damage."
In a response to Yeagle's lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court, the newspaper said it was "by simple human error" that Yeagle's name was printed with the erroneous title.
Katy Sinclair, the newspaper's editor in chief, said the phrase was part of a computer system template never meant to be published. The reporter who wrote the story sent Yeagle a letter of apology and tried to contact her by phone, but Yeagle would not return any calls.
A correction has not yet been printed in the newspaper because the next issue will not be published until July 2.
Brown said the Collegiate Times case reminded him of one involving the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Falwell sued Larry Flynt, Hustler magazine's publisher, in the 1980s when a parody using Falwell's name appeared in the magazine. Falwell was first awarded $200,000 for emotional distress, but that verdict was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988. Brown said the Supreme Court found that the average reader would understand the parody was not meant to be taken seriously.
Yeagle's lawsuit asks for $500,000 in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages. A court date has not been set.
In her lawsuit, Yeagle also claims the false title alleges that she broke the law by "the commission of a crime involving moral turpitude and therefore constitutes defamation."
Brown said that claim was probably made to make the error seem more serious than it really is.
"The allegation that she's been accused of a crime is hooey," Brown said.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB