Update on the Harper Lee Lawsuit

Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, and literary agent Samuel L. Pinkus have reached an agreement in principle to resolve Ms. Lee’s lawsuit against Mr. Pinkus. At the moment, the terms of the settlement are undisclosed, and it’s common for such terms to remain confidential.

I discussed this lawsuit in a previous post, When Our Literary Heroes Become Victims, in which I said that “the complaint is a difficult set of allegations to untangle.” Ms. Lee alleged that Pinkus, the son-in-law of her former agent Eugene Winick, breached his fiduciary duties (by failing to be truthful, self-dealing, and failing to ‘work’ the copyright to maximize royalties) and manipulated Ms. Lee into assigning away the copyright to her classic novel. It was particularly sad to read about her failing health, which Lee alleges Pinkus exploited for his personal gain.

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of…