James Frey and Publisher Settle Lawsuit

Posted on September 7, 2006

James Frey and his publisher Random House have settled the lawsuit brought by disgruntled readers who said they were defrauded into thinking the bestselling book A Million Little Pieces was nonfiction, when in fact it was mostly fiction.

Readers who bought the book on or before Jan. 26, the day Frey and the publisher acknowledged that he had made up parts of the book, will be eligible for a full refund, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing an anonymous source familiar with the negotiations. The readers claimed in a lawsuit that they had been defrauded because the book was sold as a memoir instead of fiction.The settlement must be approved by a judge.

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A Manhattan federal court judge consolidated the lawsuits in June. Ten of the 12 plaintiffs have accepted terms of the settlement, which call on Frey and Random House to pay out no more than a total of US$2.35 million, the Times said. That total covers the refund to consumers, lawyers' fees for both sides and an unspecified donation to charity.

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Consumers getting refunds will have to submit a receipt and a page or cover of the memoir, and in the case of audiobooks, a piece of packaging as proof of purchase, the newspaper said. They also will have to submit a sworn statement that they bought the book because they believed it was a memoir.

How many people are going to apply for the refund, swearing that they never would have bought the book if they had known it wasn't all true? Because it seems a bit ridiculous to us. Not that we're excusing Frey, who is a lying, cheating...well, you get the idea.

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