The lawsuit was filed in Monroe County Supreme Court in 1900, when Roberson was 17. It claimed that the ad had been printed and distributed throughout the country without Roberson's permission. Because the companies had inflicted a mental anguish upon Roberson purely for the “purpose of profit and gain to themselves,” her lawsuit sought $15,000 in compensation, the equivalent of about $450,000 today and that the defendants be prohibited from making, printing, publishing, circulating or using any likeliness of her in any form.
