Class Action Lawsuit Against PA

Therefore, I am considering filing a class-action lawsuit against PA

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While I admire your motives and wish you well, Lynne--I fear you're not going to have standing to file suit. I'm also a paralegal and have worked in some class-action cases. The trouble is there's no SINGLE class to draw from. While lots of people are dissatisfied, it's for different reasons. Most of the lies PA spews are BEFORE the contract is signed. The contract itself doesn't promise things they don't deliver. They don't promise distribution. They don't promise marketing. It's all very carefully weasel-worded to avoid liability.

Now, you MIGHT succeed with failure to pay royalties and, if so--if you can find that there's a disparity between the records of PA and Lightning Source, then awesome! I'm not certain what it would take to open up LS's records to make the comparison, though . . . probably a subpoena. But WITHOUT the records, getting a subpoena will be difficult because the suit will be dismissed for lack of standing.

But please do continue and I wish you the best. If you can manage to bring them down this way, you'll be a true heroine!

Standing for one person shouldn't be a problem; the allegation is either breach of contract (cheating on the royalties) or some sort of unfair and deceptive trade practices (the details of that kind of law vary from state to state). Putting together a whole class action, however, might be problematic, but it's a field of law that's very specialized and not one I have any experience with.

For a single plaintiff, the biggest hurdle will be in getting a lawyer to take on the case. It's not the sort of case (like auto accidents or worker's compensation) that many lawyers would handle on a contingency basis (where they only get paid if you win). So, you'd need to come up with a retainer, and I couldn't begin to tell you how much that would be. Well, okay, I could give you a starting point: Figure that many lawyers charge in the vicinity of $200 an hour, and they're going to want AT LEAST ten hours of their time covered up front (probably more), plus some additional monies for filing fees and related legal expenses (a deposition might be necessary, and thhose can easily cost hundres of dollars, not even counting the lawyer's time), and you're looking at somewhere in the vicinity of $5K to $10K as an absolute minimum retainer. With more monies due when that's used up. You might, possibly, get several authors to sue jointly (not officially a class action, but it might be possible to connect them somehow into a single lawsuit in the interest of judicial efficiency), and thus share some of the expenses. But the cost is still substantial. And what's the best-case scenario for your damages (the amount of royalties they owe you)? And under the American system of legal fees, the "winner" still pays her own legal fees, in most circumstances.

I don't want to discourage you unduly -- your best bet is to consult with a trial attorney who has experience litigating contract and consumer fraud types of cases, possibly one with federal court experience (depending on where you live, it might be heard in federal court, rather than state court), and see what he or she thinks and what would be needed as a retainer. That said, it's a tough case to win, and the defendant would have a huge motivation to spend whatever is necessary on legal fees in response, to prevent others from following your path.

Like Cathy, I do wish you the best. That might, however, involve cutting your losses and moving on with your life and your next book now, so keep that option in mind when/if you consult with a lawyer.

JD, not giving a legal opinion, just general legal information

Thanks Lynne. I'm not sure that a class action lawsuit wouldn't stand though. Just because people agree to something in a contract does not mean that the coporation, individual, etc who offered the contract is not liable. For instance, there is no way of getting out of personal liability. Let's say a tavern draws up a contract holding themselves not responsible for injuries which might occur to patrons on the way home, perhaps while inebriated. People can sign that contract all they want but the law, at least in Canada says that the tavern owner is legally responsible for ensuring the patrons arrive home safely, if under the influence of alcohol. Wouldn't the same principle be applied to Publish America? It's not okay to scam people, regardless of what it says in the contract.

Lightning Source? What is that?

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Lightning Source is the printer PA uses. They certainly know exactly how many books were printed, and since PA is POD, printed ought to equal sold. However, since their contract is with PA, not you, you'd most likely need a subpoena to get a look at their records.

Lightning Source is one of PublishAmerica's printers. (We've found at least one other -- check out the back posts in the Old NEPAT for more on this.)

So far, every time PA has been taken to arbitration, PA has had to pay up. (If you wanted to make money off your PA book, it looks like this is the way.) In at least one case the arbitrator found that the contract was so defective that no contract ever existed.

I'm also told that PA's bookkeeping is in such disarray that they don't have a clue how many books they've sold or what they actually owe anyone.

Anyone who has proof that they sold more books than PA paid them for should pursue this. Drop a note to the IRS while you're at it.

Would a group like Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts be interested in taking on this kind of case? I know nothing about class action lawsuits, but I thought I'd throw the suggestion out there.

shambles

PA's books are, from what I have seen in my audit, worse than a shamble. At this point, any author wanting out should just ask for an audit. They will refuse. Keep pushing and you will be released.

Of course, if you want money, a well placed phone call to any tax agency might offer some compensation if you can provide proof of their dealings.

Lightning Source is slow to give authors information. They will refer you to PA.

Persistence is a virtue. Grumpy persistence is a weapon.

Weapons beat virtue everytime.

I know my royalties payments should have been higher than the pittance I received. One case in point is a book bought in May by a friend, who paid cash in a bookshop in London and 90 days went by and I got Zero! and another book I have with them earned me $2.00 when I know I sold at least 20 books.

Duped

Lynne,

I'd be interested in taking legal action agaisnt PA. I know books sold this past 6 months, but I didn't receive a royalty check. Maybe it's because I demanded my rights back (and I did get them back). I also told PA to remove my book from all on-line bookstores. They still haven't done it. That should be fraud.

If I can't sue PA, I'm going to at least continue to blab my mouth to anyone who'll listen on how they've cheated me. I've already emailed Amazon and told them PA doesn't have any right to sell my book.

I hope others will join us in fighting PA!

I also told PA to remove my book from all on-line bookstores. They still haven't done it. That should be fraud.

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Afraid not. PA don't have control over all online bookstores.

PA can update their database, and be sure to tell anyone who asks them if your book is still available. But that won't stop people from having out-of-date information on their bookstores.

Wish you well, though.

Mac

Does anyone know what happened with the class action suit that Tim Steely was going to form?

Lynne,
Are you still working on this?

What about this attorney? Looks like he know PA inside-out. Maybe he could comment on the best way to deal with PA. Has he ever represented a plaintiff against them? Does he have a handle on Victor Cretella (PA's attorney)?

http://www.authorslawyer.com/l-publishers.shtml

ByGrace said:

Does anyone know what happened with the class action suit that Tim Steely was going to form?

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I'm told that PA authors don't form a "class" for the purposes of the law.

But RICO might certainly apply.

nomosolo, what you need to do is put together your documentation and then show it to a lawyer. Even if they terminated your contract, they don't have the right to withhold any royalties you were entitled to by that contract. In other words, certain provisions live on even after termination. Since they terminated the contract, you can very likely sue them in court. But talk to a lawyer first. If you can show any sales of your book after that termination by way of a receipt showing it was ordered and paid for, then you just might have a case. Heck, you might even have enough for a prosecutor to use to try them for fraud.

Destroyed the printing plates? Hear them lie! These books are digitally printed. There aren't any printing plates and never were.

Have you considered arbitration? That may be far less expensive.

nomosolo said:

Thanks for the encouragement.I have checked with several lawyers here in Florida and they won't take the case on consignment and advise me that it would be quite costly to bring a suit from down here.They advised me to get a lawyer in Frederik,VA.Can you imagine the expense trying to carry on a law suit that far away at about $100.00 per hr. attorney expense.So,PA knows how hard it is to bring any legal action against them .I also complained to the states attorney in Frederick VA.They were of no help at all. They kept saying it is a civil problem.I think they were too damn stupid to understand what I was trying to explain to them.Unless someone initiates a class action suit,I'm afraid we might as well tuck our tails between our legs and go on home.
nomosolo

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PA is in Frederick, Maryland, not VA. Check out the threads here that discuss arbitration. Other people have taken them to arbitration and won.

For that matter, if you can prove non-payment of royalties, you might consider small claims court in your home jurisdiction.

Llogan65 my name is; well my name is the same as my screen name here and I am also a PA author. I received my Arbitration case number last week, and although I live in Iowa I will be making the trek to Maryland to plead my case before the Arbitrator. Currently I am working on my witness list and getting the documents I intend to present in order.

I'm not an attorney and I cannot offer legal advice. I can only tell you the process I am going through, and share with you information I receive as I go. I also have some information that is probably applicable to any PA author, and I would be willing to share that with you.

You can send me an email from this site if you would like to talk further.

Marie