(Cooper's is not technically a defamation suit, although it does avail itself of some of the language used in such suits.) The suit against 'The Help' also contends that Stockett has repeatedly denied that the character of Aibileen Clark was based on Cooper and at the same time has 'appropriated Ablene's name and likeness' for 'commercial purposes, namely to sell more copies of 'The Help.'' If Stockett truly managed the contradictory feat of using her novel's connection to Cooper to sell books even as she assiduously covered up that connection, she is much, much more ingenious than a casual reading of 'The Help' might lead one to believe. The plaintiff must prove 1) that the defamatory fictional character is substantively accurate, otherwise it wouldn't be recognizable as the plaintiff, and 2) that the portrayal makes serious, negative departures from the truth, otherwise it wouldn't be defamatory. Such cases are full of bizarre conundrums.

Stewart listed 30 specific points of similarity between herself and the character, but objected to the character being depicted as 'lewd,' a heavy drinker, a 'right wing reactionary' and an atheist. In 2009, Haywood Smith, the author of another word-of-mouth bestseller, 'The Red Hat Club,' was ordered by a Georgia state court to pay $100,000 to Vickie Stewart, a former friend who complained of being libeled by the portrayal of a character in that novel. You don't have to have read 'The Help' to be perplexed by such a lawsuit - can a person really claim to be falsely represented by a work that's clearly labeled as fiction? The answer is yes.

Cooper's grown son died of cancer Clark's grown son dies in a workplace accident. In addition, the fictional Clark is a middle-aged black woman with a gold tooth, as is Cooper.

According to Cooper's lawsuit, the character's first name is pronounced the same as her own, and she and the character are given the same nickname by the children they care for. Cooper accused Stockett of causing her to 'experience severe emotional distress, embarrassment, humiliation and outrage' by appropriating 'her identity for an unpermitted use and holding her to the public eye in a false light.'Īt issue is Aibileen Clark, a character in 'The Help.' Clark is a black woman who works as a maid and baby sitter for a white family in the early 1960s. Earlier this month, Ablene Cooper, an African-American maid and baby sitter working in Jackson, Miss., where 'The Help' is set, filed suit against Stockett. Stockett is the author of 'The Help,' a debut novel, first published in 2009, that went on to sell well over 2 million copies. It's inevitable, apparently: Any writer lucky enough to produce a book that spends months on the bestseller list will be sued.

Kathryn stocketts the help