The news story reported that a restaurant inspector had found rodent droppings in Bandido's restaurant. The copy editor put this headline over the story:

Health Board Shuts Doors at Bandido's
Investigators Find Rats, Bugs at Northside Eatery

The owners of Bandido's sued, claiming that the headline libeled the restaurant. The owners pointed out that the inspector's report found "rodent droppings." There was no mention of rats in the report. Nor did the news story say rats were found in Bandido's.

A jury awarded the owners $985,000 in damages and the newspaper appealed the verdict.

The Indiana Court of Appeals overturned the jury award. It found:

The Journal made an extremely careless error in replacing the word "rodent" with "rat." Extremely careless errors, however, do not constitute actual malice.