The Other Shoe Falls

Back on May 16th, I posted about the lawsuit that romance writer Rebecca Brandewyne had brought against AuthorHouse. Brandewyne had sued her ex-husband's subsidy press for defamation after they published his book Paperback Poison: The Romance Writer and the Hitman.

AuthorHouse's defense was that they could not be held responsible since their contract states they assume no responsibility or liability for claims arising from publication. Brandewyne's attorney argued that, since Gary Brock (the ex-husband) had informed Authorhouse that iUniverse had turned the manuscript down due to concerns about libel, AuthorHouse should have vetted this manuscript more carefully.

The jury sided with Brandewyne and awarded her $230,000 in actual damages. It was left to the judge to determine whether punitive damages should also be awarded.

On Friday, in a fourteen-page decision, Judge Jeff Goering asserted that AuthorHouse “acted towards the plaintiffs with wanton conduct" according to this morning's Publishers Weekly. The judged ordered ordered "the POD subsidy publisher pay Brandewyne $200,000 in punitive damages. Brandewyne’s co-plaintiffs in the suit, her parents, also were awarded punitive damages of $20,000 each."

There were lots of amusing things about this case, not the least of which was that Brock had planted a fake bomb on his carport and then reported to the police that Brandewyne was trying to kill him. However, the most ironic thing to me was a comment by the judge. Judge Goering "acknowledged that, based on its business model of dealing in volume, AuthorHouse 'cannot read every book cover to cover,' and that the company, to a certain extent, is entitled to hold authors responsible for the content of their work." (PW)

What a concept. A "publisher" that cannot read every book it "publishes" from cover to cover. Sweet Mercy!

The judge still maintained that AuthorHouse failed to act when it had information that "would have placed a prudent publisher on notice that the content of Brock’s book was harmful to the plaintiffs.” (PW)

AuthorHouse has 30 days to appeal the decision.

Hey, I can't make this stuff up.