The authors who attempted to cash in on the success of "The Da Vinci Code" by suing Dan Brown and his publisher (who also publishes their work) have lost and the judge awarded 85% of the defendants costs to them. The BBC reports that Random House was rather profligate in its defense so its costs were "almost £1.3m." so that means the plaintiffs now owe something like £1 Million. Oooops. Furthermore
Mr Justice Smith ordered Mr Leigh and Mr Baigent to make an interim payment of £350,000 by 5 May and refused the authors permission to appeal.
Given that this claim to feel vindicated rings rather hollow:
Mr Leigh told reporters outside the court: "I think by its very nature, this case entailed a conflict between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law.
"We lost on the letter of the law, I think we won on the spirit of the law, and to that extent we feel vindicated."
Owing £500,000 is an expensive way to get vindicated in my book....
For my US readers this is, IMO, what is required for US Tort reform - a serious penalty if you bring a frivolous lawsuit and some sort of reward for the defendants for wasting their time and money.