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Bit Parts

By Stan Soocher

Book Publishing/Libel and Negligence

The New York Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed dismissal of a suit by a librarian allegedly depicted in the best-selling book “Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics.” The plaintiff claimed that the book, admittedly based on actual people, should be examined as a non-fiction work. But the court of appeal responded: “Although the book was inspired by real-life personalities and events, it was still fiction, and must be analyzed as such in this libel suit. … We find that the Supreme Court [ie, the New York trial court] properly deemed any purported similarities to be superficial in its appropriate role to determine whether a complaint sufficiently alleges that a fictional character refers to the plaintiff.” Carter-Clark v. Random House Inc., 5891. The court of appeal added: “[T]he [trial] court properly dismissed plaintiff's claim of negligence against Random House, since, in dealing with a work of fiction, the publisher was not obligated to take any greater steps than it did.”

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