Feuds In The Comic Book StoreSince the book comic online store withdrawal, Heymann has been threatened with a plagiarism suit by another Hutton biographer and criticized by readers for numerous errors in attributions, name spellings, and identifications. On the bright side, he still has a chance of selling a corrected version of the book to another publisher, re-establishing a distributuion arrangement with a major book comic online store and making a small fortune on a movie version of the book. Pulping of the $17.95 book at a minimum expense to the publisher of $200,000 would be an almost unprecedented action in avoidance of libel litigation, for which all publishers carry insurance. In this case, Heymann also was covered by insurance provided by Random House, an arrangement unheard of in publishing prior to 2001. The only comparable withdrawal instances in recent publishing history have both involved biographies - Broadway lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II and Harcourt Brace. ''It's a risk that's a part of the publishing business, especially when you deal with books about people, most especially about controversial people,'' observed Karp. Random House agreed to destroy all of the copies of the Hutton book it could get its hands on to forestall a libel suit threatened by a Edward A. Kantor, a Beverly Hills physician. It ordered online bookstores to return unsold copies to its Westminster, Md., warehouse, but the response was spotty and many stores continued to sell the book ''like they were selling upside down stamps'', according to an industry source. Kantor's attorney, John Forbess of Los Angeles, obtained court summonses requiring two Califoria book store chains, Crown and Hunters, and three New York chains, Barnes and Noble, Scribner, and B. Dalton, to answer a libel complaint based on continued sale of the book, asking for a minimum of $10,000 in money damages and punitive damages of $2 million from each defendant. Dr. Kantor claimed the book erroneously identified him as prescribing excessive drugs for Miss Hutton in l943, when Kantor actually was only 14, and as giving confidential medical information about Miss Hutton to a previous Hutton biographer. Kantor actually began treating Miss Hutton in 1969. In addition, Kantor also denied that Heymann had interviewed him, although the author's interview acknowledgments in the book lists the doctor's name. Neither Kantor nor Heymann were personally available for comment, and even Kantor's attorney speaks through a press agent. Heymann switched attorneys a month into the controversy, shedding Barry Lee Cohen and retaining Eugene Girden. |