The Artful Jurist

One of the big movie hits of the summer is The Help, a film based on Kathryn Stockett's novel about African American maids and their white employers in the 1960s American South.  And, as I've said on various occasions before, whenever a movie's making money, you can almost expect litigation to follow soon thereafter.

Ablene Cooper, who worked for Ms. Stockett's brother, filed a lawsuit claiming the author of The Help appropriated her likeness for a character in the book without Ms. Cooper's permission.    Ms. Stockett denies that claim.  In fact, in 2009, she had given Ms. Cooper a copy of her book along with a letter specifically stating that the character of "Aibileen" was not based on her.  As you can guess from the fact that a lawsuit was filed, Ms. Cooper's not buying that argument.

The case was thrown out of state court in Mississippi because the judge ruled that the statute of limitations had expired.  Last I heard, Ms. Cooper's attorney was asking the judge to reconsider that decision, claiming that the timing of the statute of limitations shouldn't have started when Ms. Stockett presented the book to Ms. Cooper but, rather, after Ms. Cooper had actually read the book and became aware of the character at issue.

Meanwhile, at least one legally minded observer noted that Ms. Cooper's request for damages was specified as $75,000.  That's the maximum amount of damages that can be asked for without making a case between two parties in different states eligible for transfer to a federal court.  Perhaps the plaintiff -- Ms. Cooper -- likes her chances better in state court.