Writers Orgs’ Silence: Curiouser and Curiouser

The following chronology is nothing short of stunning:

JULY 28
Court grants preliminary approval to an amended settlement. Judge Daniels signs an order requiring that supplemental notice to the class be posted “prominently” within ten days on the websites of the three “associational plaintiffs.”

AUGUST 7
Supplemental notice still not posted on any of the websites.

AUGUST 11
Still nothing. Objectors’ attorney Charles Chalmers serves on the plaintiffs’ and defendants’ counsel a request for an order by the court to them to show cause why they have not obeyed the July 28 order.

AUGUST 15
Plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel Michael Boni faxes a letter to the court stating that "two of the Associational Plaintiffs posted the supplemental notice on their websites on Friday, August 12, 2005, and the third on Saturday morning, August 13." In fact, only the Authors Guild’s website has complied; the National Writers Union’s and the American Society of Journalists and Authors’ have not.

AUGUST 18
Objectors serve a renewed request for an order to show cause. Chalmers points out that Boni’s statements are false.

AUGUST 23
As of midnight Eastern time, the NWU and ASJA sites remain non-compliant.