“‘The Tell’ constitutes neither a genuine nor harmless memoir,” the lawsuit alleges.
An anonymous woman has filed a lawsuit against best-selling writer Amy Griffin, claiming that the author’s recently-published memoir, “The Tell,” was based on a former classmate’s experience with bullying and school violence.
According to The New York Times, the plaintiff in the lawsuit is identified only by the pseudonym “Jane Doe.” Doe, who says that she went to the same school as Griffin, accuses her former classmate of invasion of privacy, negligence, and the infliction of emotional distress, among other claims. The lawsuit also names Sam Langsky, a ghostwriter who worked on “The Tell,” as a defendant, along with publishers Penguin Random House and The Dial Press.
“‘The Tell’ constitutes neither a genuine nor harmless memoir,” the lawsuit alleges.
In the book, Griffin claims that, while under the influence of psychedelics, she “recovered” repressed memories from 30 years earlier—at least one of which involved being assaulted by a teacher while Griffin was in middle school.
Doe’s lawsuit cites two specific incidents: an assault at a school dance and another in a bathroom. In “The Tell,” Griffin posits these memories as her “own ‘recovered’ memories’ that she had recently become aware of after going through MDMA therapy.”
Doe, though, says that these memories are her own—and that they were effectively stolen by Griffin for “The Tell.” The lawsuit notes that Griffin was aware of the assaults shortly after they occurred, as Doe had purportedly borrowed a dress for the dance and was forced to return it to Griffin with stains.
“This assault was more violent,” the lawsuit states, describing how the teacher put his foot on her back and shoved a bandana in her mouth, which caught on her braces.
Thomas A. Clare, an attorney for Griffin, said that his client looks forward to telling her side of the story in court.
“We look forward to exposing these meritless claims in court, as well as the deeply flawed New York Times reporting that is at the center of it,” Clare told The New York Times.
Nevertheless, Zach Rosenblatt—an attorney for Doe—divulged his client’s identity to the Times, which also noted that Doe had spoken to the newspaper sometime last year. In previous reporting, the Times found that Griffin’s publishers had likely failed to fact-check the material.
Rosenblatt and the Times also indicated that the teacher, who is not named in “The Tell” but was described accurately enough to be recognizable to people associated with the school, was not the same teacher who allegedly abused Doe. The lawsuit highlights this distinction, too.
Sources
Famous author who wrote bestselling sexual assault memoir The Tell based it on attacks…
Lawsuit Accuses Writer of Using Classmate’s Story in Best-Selling Memoir
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