The British biography:<\/p>\n
Carol Hughes says unauthorised biography by Jonathan Bate, shortlisted for Samuel Johnson prize, is riddled with factual errors.<\/em><\/p>\n Source: Ted Hughes\u2019 widow criticises \u2018offensive\u2019 biography | Books | The Guardian<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The American (sort of) biography:<\/p>\n Jeanine Pirro has been accused of printing falsehoods in her coming book on Mr. Durst, the peculiar scion of a New York real estate family.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Source: Suit Claims Ex-Prosecutor Disregarded \u2018Truth and Accuracy\u2019 in Book on Robert Durst – The New York Times<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n You’ll notice that the British biography of poet Ted Hughes, no matter how “offensive” to Hughes’s widow, is not tagged with a lawsuit.<\/p>\n Instead…<\/p>\n The estate has demanded an apology for what it called \u201csignificant errors of fact, as well as damaging and offensive claims\u201d. It is also seeking retractions and an undertaking that the alleged mistakes will be amended.<\/em><\/p>\n Not so with Jeanine Pirro’s book on Robert Durst:<\/p>\n A lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Thursday against Ms. Pirro by her original collaborator, Lisa DePaulo, claims that Ms. Pirro had \u201clittle regard for truth and accuracy\u201d as she directed the writer to \u201cdescribe events and circumstances that never occurred and to aggrandize\u201d Ms. Pirro\u2019s \u201crole in the story at the expense of the truth.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Ms. DePaulo claims in the suit that she expressed her concern to Ms. Pirro that inaccurate information could taint Mr. Durst\u2019s pending murder trial in Los Angeles, and that Ms. Pirro\u2019s response was curt: It was her book, not Ms. DePaulo\u2019s.<\/em><\/p>\n Oh, so it’s not the Dursts who are suing Pirro! Not yet, anyway:<\/p>\n Ms. DePaulo is not the first person to challenge Ms. Pirro\u2019s account. In July, a lawyer for Douglas Durst, Robert\u2019s younger brother, wrote to the former district attorney and her publisher warning that he would sue them if Ms. Pirro persisted in making factual errors or defamatory remarks about the Dursts.<\/em><\/p>\n So back to Lisa DePaulo’s lawsuit, and we learn:<\/p>\n Ms. Pirro\u2019s agent, David Vigliano, scoffed at the lawsuit. \u201cLisa DePaulo is a disgruntled former employee,\u201d he said on Thursday. \u201cShe was fired for nonperformance. She\u2019s doing this for the money and it\u2019s sad.\u201d The publisher also disputes Ms. DePaulo\u2019s account.<\/em><\/p>\n I’m really bored with that “disgruntled former employee” clich\u00e9. It does nothing to rebut the allegations. Let me point out, probably not for the first time, if an employer’s treatment of an employee gets to a lawsuit, you can bet the employee is “disgruntled.” I mean, folks, that’s why he or she is suing.<\/p>\n Moreover:<\/p>\n The lawsuit claims that Ms. Pirro subsequently breached a contract to pay Ms. DePaulo an additional $28,750 for her work and for the use of exclusive interviews and materials that predated their collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n I’m sniffing an undisclosed settlement with a confidentiality clause coming up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The British biography: Carol Hughes says unauthorised biography by Jonathan Bate, shortlisted for Samuel Johnson prize, is riddled with factual errors. Source: Ted Hughes\u2019 widow criticises \u2018offensive\u2019 biography | Books | The Guardian The American (sort of) biography: Jeanine Pirro … Continue reading