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Courtney Love Sued by Memoir Writer

By Christopher Coble, Esq. on April 29, 2015 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

It's hard working with celebrities. They're such divas!

Anthony Bozza, no stranger to writing for celebrities, has had enough. He recently sued Courtney Love in federal court for failing to pay him for writing a 123,375-word manuscript. He claims he wrote a memoir for Love that she never published. Love, supposedly, didn't like how the book portrayed her and told Bozza that she is trying to fix the book.

He has already been paid $100,000, but wants an additional $200,000 plus interest and potential royalties for the book, tentatively titled "Girl With the Most Cake."

Breach Of Contract

Reports do not state what cause of action Bozza is suing under. However, it is likely that he may be suing for breach of contract.

When either party to a contract refuses to perform their responsibilities under the contract, there is a breach of contract. When suing for breach of contract, there are several types of remedies for the injured party.

Specific Performance

This remedy forces the breaching party to comply with the contract. The breaching party must do as they promised to in the contract. Specific performance is a specialized remedy reserved for only when no other remedy would suffice and the subject of the contract is unique.

For example, Bob signed a contract to give you a priceless Renoir painting, if you agreed to let him eat your rare truffle. Bob eats your truffle, but decides he doesn't want to give you the painting. Since the painting is a unique object that you could not get, even if you had the money, the court would compel Bob to comply with the contract.

Restitution

More commonly, the court will award monetary damages to help make the non-breaching party whole. This remedy tries to restore the damaged party to where they were before the contract.

If you paid Tom $100 to paint your house, and he takes your money but never do any work, the court will require him to pay you the $100 back.

Quantum Meruit

Quantum meruit is Latin for "as much as he deserved." This remedy compensates the damaged party for what work he has already done before the contract was breached. In this case, Tom painted half of your home, before you decided you didn't like the color and fired him. You would be required to pay him for half of his services.

Even if Courtney didn't love the Bozza's book, the court may require her to pay him either for the value of his services rendered or the amount promised in their contract.

Hope he got it in writing.

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