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

Cain (P) is a prison inmate serving a life sentence for murder. P sued Hearst (D) claiming that a newspaper article invaded his privacy by placing him in a false light. The article referred to P as a burglar, thief, pimp, and killer. D printed that P is believed to have killed as many as eight people; P killed one of his lawyers in 1973 and married the lawyer's widow a few months later; P killed a 67-year-old man in 1977; in 1983 he 'bought' a prostitute from a friend to help finance his activities; P persuaded the prostitute to marry a trailer park owner named Anderson, so that P could kill Anderson and share the prostitute's inheritance from Anderson; when the prostitute balked, P threatened to kill her 5-year-old daughter and 'deliver her daughter's head in a wastepaper basket'; the prostitute married Anderson 3 days later, and on January 5, 1985, P killed Anderson. P's sole complaint is that the article printed false information that he was a member of the 'Dixie Mafia' and that he had killed as many as eight people. P asserted that these statements put him in a false light with the public. Suit was filed in state court one and one-half years after the article was published. D removed the case to federal court, and the court granted D's motion for dismissal on the grounds that P's action lies in libel, and held that the one-year limitations period expired before P brought the suit. P appealed, and the court certified questions.

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