The Bookseller reports that a judge has thrown out a lawsuit by so-called "literary agent" and vanity press "publisher" Robert Fletcher against Writer Beware and ordered him to repay Victoria Strauss and Ann Crispin all of their legal costs.
Judge Thomas Connolly, who ruled that Fletcher and his company were liable for the costs, said: "The plaintiffs have exhibited extreme bad faith in bringing this frivolous lawsuit for the sole purpose [of] causing great expense and harassment to Crispin and Strauss… The court concludes and finds that this case was brought in bad faith by the plaintiffs."
The judge added that Fletcher's purpose was "not to prevail in the lawsuit but just to bankrupt the defendants".
[…]Fletcher claimed the blogs "alleged fraud, misrepresentation and dishonesty towards authors" and were "defaming and libeling" by "publishing warnings to potential authors of the fraudulent practices of LAG and Fletcher". Fletcher operates a fee-charging literary agency/writers' consultancy under a variety of names.
I hope this will serve as a warning to others like Fletcher, and there are many of them out there, who think they can intimidate Writer Beware and prevent them from warning writers about deceptive publishing practices.
It's also my hope that more organizations will join the Science Fiction Writers of America and the Mystery Writers of America in sponsoring Writer Beware…and that the support of major writers' organizations will frighten off scammers from filing frivolous lawsuits against the site.
Amen. The fact that the judge was brave enough to penalize the plaintiff for bringing in this suit, this frivolous suit, is a long overdue act. Maybe this case should be discussed throughout the country and the precedent adopted in all the courts. Someone has to stop the malicious use of the courts and this judge has just shown that he can do it, at least in this case. Hooray for him!