Bradley LaShawn Fowler wants $60 million from Zondervan and $10 million from Thomas Nelson over hurt feelings from the editorial handling of the scriptural passages in question. Yes, the suits are pro se, and the judge won’t be appointing a lawyer at public expense to handle them, which still leaves the question of whether employing coercive legal process in such a manner should be free of a price tag in the form of Rule 11 sanctions. (“Man sues Zondervan to change anti-gay reference in Bible”, Grand Rapids Press, Jul. 9)(updated link should be working again).
More: Ron Coleman at Likelihood of Success has a copy of the hand-written complaint (PDF), as well as other commentary and links. James Taranto also comments. And Bill Poser, Language Log (via our comments), on the translation issues raised by the complaint.
Update July 2015: A federal judge soon tossed the hand-scrawled complaint out of court. But the case was destined to take on an urban-legend life of its own, with mostly conservative social media outlets re-reporting it in mid-2015 as if the case were a new and significant legal development, typically omitting its date, circumstances, and disposition. One site alone at last report had reaped more than 90,000 Facebook shares from its July 2015 version.
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It will be quite interesting to hear more about this little escapade.
Jesus must be rolling in his grave–wait, strike that!
How is it possible that this guy blogs on Obama’s site and then doesn’t use the computer to type up his complaint?
A lot of people have convenient access to a web browser but not to a printer. Their printer might be broken, or they might be reaching the web through a public library computer or a cellphone.
For what its worth, I have some comments on the linguistic issues over at Language Log.
If the plaintiff manages to pierce both the free exercise of religion and the freedom of the press clauses, my feelings have been hurt by lawyers in the past. I file my lawsuit right away.
look at the pdf version link above in the “More:” section–this is amazing!
Did I read that right or does it actually say “My Prayer” on page 7 as the heading of the conclusion/last paragraph?
Prayer? Is this guy serious? If it does say prayer this guy is a complete loony. Praying to the court system? What about the “Separation of Church and State” the liberals love to cling to in a distorted version–to name one of many many rediculous aspects of such a “prayer”…this suit is insane, and 2 Timothy 4:3-4 is coming to full prophecy before our eyes. Lord Jesus, help us, help our nation… now THAT is a true heartfelt prayer.
If this nut pulls it off, I’m going to hire him to sue all the global warming loonies (including his Holiness Al Gore) because let’s face it, that dogma is hurting my feelings and costing me money at the pump.
He wants to sue the bible, are you kidding me? What’s next? We gonna sue toast because it leaves crumbs? Man up. Quit being such a wuss.
How can someone think they can sue someone because they print the Bible, meaning what the Bible says? Does he expect Bible publishers to be dishonest and not print the Bible accurately? If this guy can sue over the bible then just imagine how many other religions will be open season if someone feels that in any way his/her feelings have been “hurt.”