Dooce was Sued

Last Thursday, Heather B Armstrong of Dooce was sued.

At the beginning of July I was served court papers. The case is a matter of public record, and I’m sure anyone who wanted to do a little research could read every sordid detail, or at least the plaintiff’s one-sided account of the details, but I’m not going to get into any of the specifics here other than to say that I chose not to sign a contract and was sued because of that decision.

While she never says what contract wasn't signed or refuses to allude the company, I wasn't the only curious person. This was posted at Yahoo Answers:

Who filed lawsuit against heather armstrong / dooce in July 2006?

The answer pointed to three different sources -- MediaBistro (aka Galley Cat), the Salt Lake Tribune, and The Zero Boss.

Any one of the accounts will tell you that she had troubles with a publishing contract with Kensington. Her troubles set a precendent that scares the pants off of me -- Heather was sued because she didn't sign a contract, based on a binding oral argeement.

WTF

I've been reading Dooce for quite some time and have that sense of over-familiarity that one gets from personal blogs. I'm outraged that a company would do this. I am going to keep watching the story and hope that someone with publishing experience puts in their two cents.