Ralph Schoenman, a human-rights activist and former colleague of Bertrand Russell, has reached a settlement of his defamation case against Random House Inc. The case, which was filed in the Ninth District Federal Court in San Francisco, concerned accusations that Random House had knowingly distributed an edition of a 1998 book by Bryan Magee, Confessions of a Philosopher (a book about Russell's life), which contained defamatory statements about Schoenman. The book was originally published by Orion Publishers of the U.K., where Schoenman won a defamation lawsuit last year. (News, Apr. 24, 2000,); when and to what degree Random House became aware of the charges brought against Orion were at the heart of the case.
Random House spokesperson Stuart Applebaum told PW that Random had edited the problematic passages in the book on its own volition after learning of the Orion case.
While a confidentiality agreement prevents both parties from disclosing most terms of the settlement, Schoenman told PW, "We are completely satisfied with the outcome of the case."
