The Charleston City Paper defamed a former children's protective guardian by publishing false allegations about her, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Monday.

Linda Erickson of Dorchester County could potentially reap millions of dollars in actual and punitive damages against the alternative weekly, her lawyer said.

Erickson sued the paper's parent, Jones Street Publishers, over a January 2000 front-page story that addressed the guardian ad litem system, which assigns people to represent the interests of a child in court and legal matters.

In the article, "In A Child's Best Interest: Is the guardian ad litem program giving children a voice?," a Summerville grandmother whose daughter was going through a divorce made unfounded allegations against Erickson's professional abilities. Erickson was a private guardian for the woman's granddaughter.

Among Patricia Beal's charges were that Erickson had not properly investigated her daughter's case, had reached erroneous conclusions and had manipulated the Family Court. Beal is the grandmother.

Erickson was not identified by name in the story, but it was accepted in court that she was the person assailed in the article, her lawyer's office said.

Erickson sued the paper, claiming false allegations printed by the paper helped to ruin her career.

In its ruling, the high court said the paper erred on several fronts, including by failing to check before publication the reliability of charges made by a grandmother in a heated divorce case.

The justices also ruled Erickson was a private figure who did not seek the spotlight in the dispute over reforming the guardian system. That meant Erickson did not have to prove the newspaper acted maliciously, a standard that has to be met in cases involving public officials.

Erickson cannot be transformed into a public figure by Beal or by the newspaper "by dragging her unwillingly into the controversy" over guardian reform, the justices said.

The court ordered that a new jury be seated to decide on damages.

Erickson's lawyer, Russell Stemke of the Isle of Palms, said the ruling goes a long way toward better defining who can be labeled a public figure in South Carolina.

The ruling is the second favorable decision Erickson has received in recent weeks over attacks she suffered in her role as a guardian.

Late last month, Erickson was awarded nearly $6.5 million in actual and punitive damages by a Charleston County jury after she sued a group of citizens over similar allegations made against her.

One of the defendants in that suit was Beal.

City Paper publisher Noel Mermer did not return a tele- phone message Monday, and reporter Bill Davis declined comment.

The Ciy Paper's lawyer, John Kerr of Charleston, said he was studying the court's lengthy ruling and declined comment.

Kerr also serves as attorney for The Post and Courier.

Reach Schuyler Kropf at 937-5551 or skropf@postandcourier.com.