Evening star., 1951-03-03
Mccarthy, 10 Others
Sued by Pearson for
S5.1 Million Damages

4o.l Mllll0n damages
Senator Mccarthy, Republican,
OF Wisconsin, seven others who
are named and two who are listed
as John Doe and Richard Roe,
and the Washington Times Herald
today faced District Court suit
by Columnist Drew Pearson ask
ing damages totaling $5.1 million.
The four-count suit filed late
yesterday seeks specific damages
of 100000 against Senator Nc
Carthy in two counts. Those al
lege an assault at the Sulgrave
Club here and also a ''libelous,
false and defamatory attack upon
the character, veracity, morality,
competence and patriotism" of
Mr.. Pearson by the Senator.
The other counts apply to all
IL defendants, including Senator
Mccarthy, and declare that they
carried on preconceived plan to
hold Mr.. Pearson up to public
ridicule and drive him out of busi-
ness by causing a public boycott.
That part of the suit seeks
damages totaling $4.5 million. 1t
asks that all defendants be "en-
joined from continuing to perform
aforesaid injurious acts and from
conspiring to unreasonably re-
strain competition in the profess
sion and business in which the
plaintiff competes with said de-
PENDANTS"
Fulton Lewis, Pegler Named.
Besides Senator Mccarthy, the
Times-Herald and John Doe and
Richard Doe, other defendants are:
Fulton Lewis, jr.. radio COM
mentator; Edward K. Nellor. an
assistant to Mr.. Lewis and for
merly Washington and New
York newspaperman; George
Waters, Washington publicity man
formerly employed by the Times
Herald and later by Senator Nc
Carthy; Don Surine, administra-
tive assistant to Senator Nc
Carthy; Morris A. Bealle, an au-
thor; j. B. Matthews. a writer,
and Westbrook Pegler, the col
umniSt.
At Bethesda Naval Hospital.
where he is undergoing treatment
for a sinus ailment, Senator Nc
Carthy said:
1.-The truth is a perfect defense
against any libel action. don't
think I'll have any trouble proving
to any jury that everything I said
was the truth"
WaIdrop Refuses to Comment.
Frank Waldrop. executive edi-
tor of the Times-Herald, said the
newspaper would have no COM
ment on the Pearson suit.
Mr.. Pearson is in Europe. The
suit was filed by his attorneys,
William A. Roberts and Warren
Woods. Mr.. Pearson's staff en-
ployes who are writing his daily
syndicated column during his abb
sence explained that the suit is
unusual because 1t relies on the
Fair Trade Practices Act, as well
as provisions of the Taft-Hartley
Act, banning boycotts.
Mr.. Pearson, they stated, could
not rely on the libel laws because
Senator Mccarthy is protected by
congressional immunity in many
of his statements against Mr..
Pearson.
Restraint of Trade Charged.
The suit, emphasizes claims Of
boycott and restraint of trade by
declaring that Mr.. Pearson's con-
tract with the Adam Hat Co. was
Cancelled and his negotiations
with potential sponsors" were
terminated as a result of alleged
actions by Senator Mccarthy and
theo ther defendants.
This deprived Mr.. Pearson "of
a market for his services and
products" and decreased the
competition offered blythe plain
tiff (Mr. Pearson) to said de-
fendant," the complaint stated.
This also amounted to restrain
ing trade of commerce among the
several States and the District of
Columbia and with foreign ma
tions," the complaint added.
It was recalled today that the
Adam company did not renew
Mr.. Pearson's broadcasting con-
tract which recently expired. The
company declared it's action had
nothing to do with a demand by
Senator Mccarthy that it discon-
tinue sponshorship. The company
explained it had previously de-
cided to end its radio sponsorship
of that program and to center on
other advertising activities.
The complaints first count, ap-
plying only to Senator Mccarthy,
charged that last December IL
at dinner party at the Sulgrave
Club, 1901 Massachusetts, avenue
NV, uttered false, foul and
malicious remarks" against Mr..
Pearson with deliberate inten-