This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

P filed a libel action seeking damages and a permanent injunction as well as damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress against D. D claimed that P had raped her in 1953, when she was a 19-year- old librarian, and he a 24-year-old first-year law student, at Harvard Law School. In 1991, D began to picket in front of P's apartment building in Manhattan. The hand-lettered sandwich board which she wore on these almost daily occasions proclaimed as follows: 'ATTENTION RESIDENTS OF 19 EAST 72ND ST. A. WALKER BINGHAM RAPED ME AND IS NOW SUING ME FOR LIBEL.' P and D had a youthful affair, which commenced in 1953 and ended in 1955, and that for the next 30 years they lived separate lives. D married in 1965, had two children, and was divorced in 1984. P had married twice and has three children. After a chance encounter 1983, a second affair began and lasted until 1989 when, D contends, the memory of the alleged rape, which she had repressed for 36 years, was unlocked. D states that she then realized that this was why she had been depressed and dysfunctional for years and that it accounted for her inability to pursue a career and succeed in her marriage. D claims that, by publicizing her charges against P, she will be able to come to terms with the traumatic event and heal emotionally, a process that requires an admission of guilt and expression of remorse from P.

The legal issues presented in this case will be displayed here.

The court's holding and decision will be displayed here.

Legal analysis from Dean's Law Dictionary will be displayed here.