Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Kathryn Stockett

By Jason Boog 

Hinds County Circuit judge Tomie Green has dismissed a lawsuit filed against novelist Kathryn Stockett by her brother’s maid. According to the judge, the statute of limitations had expired on the case before the lawsuit was filed.

60-year-old Ablene Cooper sued Stockett earlier this year, alleging that the author used “an unauthorized appropriation of her name and image” in the bestselling novel, The Help.

According to The New York Times, the lawsuit centered around a character named Aibileen Clark–an African American maid working in Jackson, Mississippi. Cooper has worked as a maid for Stockett’s brother and sister-in-law for years, and her lawsuit sought $75,000 in damages.

What do you think? Here’s the most popular passage from the Aibileen Clark section of the book: “I put the iron down real slow, feel that bitter seed grow in my chest, the one planted after Treelore died. My face goes hot, my tongue twitchy. I don’t know what to say to her. All I know is, I ain’t saying it. And I know she ain’t saying what she want a say either and it’s a strange thing happening here cause nobody saying nothing and we still managing to have us a conversation.”

Editor’s Note: This post was updated as the story evolved. (Via Publishers Lunch)