# Southall v. Little Rock Newspapers, Inc.

> Supreme Court of Arkansas · March 5, 1998 · 332 Ark. 123

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9765214

## Case

- **Full name:** Jarrell E. SOUTHALL and Barbara J. Southall v. LITTLE ROCK NEWSPAPERS, INC., and Bobbi Ridlehoover
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Arkansas
- **Decided:** March 5, 1998
- **Citations:** 332 Ark. 123; 964 S.W.2d 187; 26 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1815; 1998 Ark. LEXIS 166
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Thornton
- **Judges:** Corbin, Meyer, Thornton, Wood, Brown, Imber
- **Cited by:** 12 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9765214

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- stating that whether a person is a public official or a public figure is a mixed question of fact and law to be determined by the trial court and whether the evidence in the record is sufficient to support a finding of actual malice is a question of law

## Opinion text

Ray Thornton, Justice, concurring. I concur in the deci sion to affirm, but, in my opinion, it is only necessary to decide whether the trial court erred in determining that Jarrell Southall was a limited-purpose public figure who failed to show that appellees published the allegedly inaccurate news stories about him with actual malice. Southall’s charges, if proven, would not reach the threshold of actual malice required by the landmark case of New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964). I agree with the majority that the trial court did not err in granting summary judgment and that the case should be affirmed.
Special Justice Keith N. Wood joins in this concurrence.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9765214. Public record. Not legal advice.