Frivolous Lawsuits

Yet another reason I hate Oprah, and why the book industry is fucked (from Publishers Lunch):


Frey Settlement Deal is Close
Following a rumor report from Radar recently, the NYT also says that Random House and James Frey are close to settling class action suits brought over the merchandising of A MILLION LITTLE PIECES as nonfiction. While Random House's standard policy has always allowed for refunds to consumers who buy directly from their site, and via booksellers with purchase receipt, the settlement as reported by "a person familiar with the negotiations" would be much simpler (and more generous) for consumers. They would simply need to submit a selected page or piece of packaging from the book or audio packaging to qualify, along with a standardized "sworn statement that they would not have bought the book if they knew that certain facts had been embroidered or changed." By this account, Frey and Random House's liability would be capped at a maximum of $2.35 million, including paying all the lawyers, cash refunds, and some kind of charitable donation. (You'll remember that Frey has insisted that, even before his lies were exposed, he was already donating 15 percent of his earnings to treatment centers, though the donations have never been documented.) Frey's lawyer Derek Meyer tells the NYT, "We worked with Random House on whether to resolve these lawsuits and the desire to move on became a powerful incentive to resolve what are otherwise very weak cases." In this case, "move n" could be a synonym for "get paid," since Random House has withheld Frey's big seven-figure Oprah windfall royalty check pending disposition of the lawsuits.


So where does one draw the line? Lawsuits like this show the ignorance of the vast majority of Americans, and are part of the reason why everything is so expensive. Anytime Sony gets hit with a class action lawsuit, and everyone who bought a defunct Discman gets their 40 cents in settlement, then the cost of Discmans go up. Is it really worth the 40 cents?