Verdict for the Plaintiff

"There has to be a first time for everything," said Columnist Drew Pearson ruefully one day last week, "and this is the first time I've ever lost a libel suit." That day a jury in federal district court had brought in a verdict in favor of onetime U.S. Assistant Attorney General Norman M. Littell, for $50,000 compensatory damages, plus $1 for punitive damages -- the biggest libel verdict ever returned in Washington.

Lawyer Littell charged that Pearson had damaged him by writing in his column: "The Justice Department is casting a quizzical eye on ... Norman Littell. They have reports that Littell is acting as a propagandist for the Dutch government, though he failed to register as a foreign agent." The jury decided that Pearson was wrong on his facts because Littell had never worked for the Dutch government.

Pearson planned to appeal the verdict anyway, thought his phrase "casting a quizzical eye on" gave room for a lot of leeway.

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