LOS ANGELES : Author of Book on Slaying Faces Plagiarism Trial
A trial is scheduled in Los Angeles federal court in November in a lawsuit alleging that the author of a book about a murder-for-insurance scheme plagiarized material from a Vanity Fair article about the high-profile case in which Dr. Richard Boggs, a Glendale doctor, was sentenced to life in prison.
Free-lance writer Ann Louise Bardach is suing Edwin Chen, author of the 1992 book “Cheating Death,” contending that the book was “copied largely” from Bardach’s 15,000 word, October, 1989, article in Vanity Fair entitled “The Murder Hustle.” Chen is a Times reporter.
Bardach also is suing the book publisher, Onyx, and its parent company, Penguin Books USA Inc., based in New York.
A lawyer representing the book companies and Chen has filed papers denying the charges. U.S. District Judge Harry L. Hupp directed the defendants to submit a more detailed answer to Bardach’s charges by the end of next week.
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