First, kill all the lawyers...

A judge has approved a settlement in the case of book buyers who were duped into purchasing James Frey's fictional memoirs. As it turns out, hardly anyone really cared, and only 1729 people filed to get their money back.

Here's the part I like, though. The payments mandated by the settlement break down as follows:

$27,348 in refunds to the 1,729 claimants
$432,000 to publicize the settlement
$180,000 donated to the American Red Cross, Hazelden and First Book
$783,000 for the attorneys

So the lawyers are getting 29 times as much as the aggrieved parties.

Comments

[Elaine Flinn]

Damn, should have gone to law school.

[I.J.Parker]

Even better: go to law school and write a juicy memoir.