P-List Litigation

[doktor at primenet.com]

May 16, 1998

The following is an attempt to summarize the litigation which has taken
place among P-list members over the past year.

It will be recalled that the case began approximately one year ago when
Jules Siegel brought an action against Peter Giordano and Williams College,
claiming defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Jules' wife, Anita, joined in with a claim for loss of consortium.

Williams College entered a cross-claim against Peter Giordano for
negligently damaging the college's computer server through his overuse of
same, for recovery of wages paid to Goirdano for the time he spent posting
to the P-list and for overdue library fines on the entire oeuvre of Mario
Puzo.

Giordano lodged a counterclaim against Siegel for assault in connection
with the face-ripping incident.  The court allowed Giordano's motion for
attachment on trustee process, naming Dale Larson and Intangible Assets
Manufacturing as trustees on Siegel's assets, to wit, the revenue realized
on the sale of Lineland.

Larson and IAM brought a claim for interpleader against John Mascaro and
Jules Siegel, claiming that Mascaro's refusal to grant permission for the
use of his posts in Lineland and the unresolved question of the commercial
value of Mascaro's posts made it impossible for Larson and IAM to properly
discharge their duties as trustees.

John Mascaro responded by bringing copyright claims atainst Siegel, Larson
and IAM, and additionally named Chrissie as a fifth-party defendant.
Chrissie then brought conversion claims against Siegel to recover the value
of her record collection which, she claimed. Siegel wrongfully appropriated
at the time of their divorce.  Anita then cross-claimed against Chrissie
for alienation of affection.

After an itial round of discovery, Siegel moved for leave to add Mario Puzo
as a defendant on grounds 1) that he was an indespensible party, and 2)
that his last name begins with P.  Puzo caused a horse's head to be sent to
Siegel disguised as a book donation, and prevailed on a motion to add
Thomas Pynchon as a sixth-party defendant for negligent infliction of Jules
Siegel.  The motion was allowed, but the cause of action was dismissed sua
sponte when service could not be made on Mr. Pynchon.

Meanwhile, Murthy and Andrew, outraged at the legal squabbling on the
P-list, petitioned the court to intervene and to certify as a class all the
P-listers who just wanted to discuss Pynchon.  Claims on behalf of the
class included intentional interference with advantageous business
relations on behalf of all those P-listers who were writing their own books
about their experiences on the list, as well as claims for severe emotional
distress at not having a venue in which to promulgate their opinions about
M&D.

A motion by Siegel to add Messrs. Mason and Dixon as seventh-party
defendants was taken under advisement.

By this time, most P-listers were not posting directly to the list, but
were posting through their attorneys.  While this did douse the flame wars
for a time, there were some who felt that having their literary analysis
presented by counsel detracted from the overall P-list experience.  Some of
these P-listers grew resentful of the class-certification efforts of Andrew
and Murthy and filed their own independent claims, naming Waste.Org as an
eighth-party defendant.

All 470 P-listers were then joined to the litigation by court order to
adjudicate the class certification issue.  Seizing the opportunity, Siegel
brought claims against Jimmy, Meg, Diana, Jester and everyone else who had
insulted on the list, claiming that his hurt feelings had prevented him
from completing his next literary masterpiece.

The case is now being litigated under the special Federal Rules for Complex
Litigation, and has been assigned to the noted Toon Town jurist, Judge
Doom, for trial.

--Jimmy