Judge Dismisses Law Prof’s Suit Claiming Casebook Co-Author Killed New Book Deal
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Case Western law professor that claimed conduct by his casebook co-author killed plans for a revised version of the publication as well as a different book deal.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston dismissed the suit by law professor Kevin McMunigal in late December, the National Law Journal reports.
McMunigal had alleged that co-author Kate Bloch, a law professor at the University of California’s Hastings law school, missed deadlines and failed to obtain copyright permissions, and insisted they write separate teachers’ manuals for the 2005 criminal law casebook, the NLJ story says. He claimed the conduct nixed a revised edition of the book, Criminal Law: A Contemporary Approach. Illston ruled the statute of limitations barred McMunigal’s claims for breach of the publication agreement.
McMunigal also claimed Bloch repudiated a separation agreement, killing his own book deal reached with the publisher, Aspen Publishers. Illston found there were negotiations, but there was no agreement.
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