In March 1949, Norton sued the Irish Press (against legal advice) when it accused him of "occupying most of his time with Party matters and (leaving) the Department to run itself." Norton won a pyrrhic victory, with the jury awarding him £1 in damages. This lead Fianna Fáil's Sean MacEntee to dub Norton as "Billy the Quid." This case simply lead credence to the notion that Norton had indeed been neglecting his ministerial duties.
