Author: Kevin Fitzpatrick

Friday morning during Day Four of the Dorothy Parker Copyright Trial the courtroom of Judge John F. Keenan did not know what to expect of the first witness. Judge Keenan said, “I have no idea whether he’s hostile or not,” prompted by a memo from one of the attorneys in the case. The air of…

On Day Three of the Dorothy Parker Copyright Trial the mood in the courtroom changed. Possibly this was due to the fact that the court has now heard from two witnesses and moved onto two more, one in the flesh and one on a TV monitor. For a third day in a row, I was…

Splitting hairs. That is what Day Two of the Dorothy Parker Book Battle was about. This case is going to be decided by the narrowest of arguments when the case is played out. In the follow-up to Day One, plaintiff Stuart Y. Silverstein was grilled by Penguin Books’ lead defense counsel, while the second witness…

Dorothy Parker in life was no stranger to courtrooms. In 1927 she ended up in one in Boston while marching against the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti. Years later, in 1955, Parker testified in New York State Supreme Court during the Communist Red Scare. But Tuesday’s proceedings at U.S. Federal Court at 500 Pearl Street…