One Lawsuit that suits both ? or You CAN spell Synergy without "sin."

It is the rare lawsuit that makes both plaintiff and defendant happy with the denouement. Lawyers say that you can tell a negotiated result is fair if both sides are equally unhappy with the settlement. One in which both sides are happy with the result is even rarer.

The moral: "It is the rare lawsuit that leaves all parties happy" is the conclusion of a story titled "Around the World in Eighty Months," one of a collection of columns by Justice Aron Steuer in the book Aesop in the Courts. In that tale, Oliver Stoutwell, sole stockholder of Stoutwell Industries, buys a new car with what turn out to have defectively manufactured brakes. He sues the manufacturer of the vehicle, who impleads the brakes' manufacturer, who brings in the foreign producer of the brake lining, who brings in his supplier of graphite for the lining, who then impleads the foreign shipping company that it alleges negligently transported the graphite, who adds as a party a company that allegedly defectively repaired the cargo hatch on the ship in Europe, who impleads its supplier of allegedly defectively cured wood to construct the hatch, who then adds as new defendant the kiln manufacturer who supplied the defective kiln to dry the wood, --none other than Stoutfellow Industries. Oliver Stoutwell was delighted, as Stoutwell Industries could concede liability. Oliver Stoutwell would then obtain a large damage verdict tax free to him, and Stoutwell Industries' could pay it to him and deduct it from the companies' books as a pre tax expense!

I thought of that benign circle when I read in the papers today about the lawsuit over the cookbook written (allegedly cribbed?) by Jerry Seinfeld's wife Jessica, which is currently the subject of a plagiarism allegation. The book is called Deceptively Delicious. Missy Chase Lapine, the author of a similar cookbook, The Sneaky Chef, is suing Ms. Seinfeld.

Lapine opines that the Seinfeld book ought to be called Deliciously Deceptive. She thinks that Seinfeld took the "sneaky" part of the title of Missy's book a bit too literally.

As a result of the publicity both books have gotten, the Seinfeld book is a best seller. But the Lapine opus, rejected by some big publishers before it hit the stores, has now done well, too. Amazon.com, the 800 pound gorilla in the book peddling market, asks purchasers of the Seinfeld recipe book if they would also like to purchase the Sneaky book, and many have said yes.
You can see for yourself here.

As long as both authors feud and get on television and in the newspapers about their accusations of one another, their books continue to remain in the public eye and to sell well. So well that I doubt that Ms. Lapine will have an easy time proving damages because of the synergy. You can spell "synergy" without "sin" after all.

ASIDE TO MS. SEINFELD AND MS. LAPINE: If you would like to say some nasty things about my book, The Supreme Court Jester (Available at the link at the bottom of the page), please do so in the mass media. If not, you could just tell TV talking heads and the newspapers that you don't like this blog.