On March 19th, the Los Angeles Times reported that U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell gave preliminary approval to fully refund readers who purchased the book before Jan, 26, 2006, unless other expenses exceed $2.35 million. Claims must be filed to Random House by October 1st. Potentially, three million pieces of paper (page 163 to be exact) can be returned to the publisher. The hardcover sold for $23.95 and the paperback edition flew off the shelves for about $14.95.
The million little lies were first discovered by The Smoking Gun, an investigative Web site, alleging that Frey exaggerated and invented many events in the book. Doubleday, a division of Random House, the book's publisher, issued a statement promising to issue refunds to readers who purchased directly from the publisher. And Oprah, after she had been duped, issued an apology to the public. Although Frey later confessed (and publicly to Oprah) that he had indeed made up parts of the "memoir", Random House stated on Friday, May 18th that "Random House and James Frey vigorously deny any wrongdoing and liability" but the company also agreed to a settlement "to halt the substantial expense and distraction" created by the lawsuits.
Definition of memoir: "An account of the personal experiences of an author; a narrative nonfiction written like fiction. For instance, dialogue is included, but since few people can remember precisely every word spoken, the dialogue is not literally true; instead the author attempts to recreate it as accurately as possible."
[Random House] states that: This settlement has just received preliminary court approval and the public notice regarding the terms of the settlement will be posted by Random House shortly on this website.