Help!

See Sharp Press mugged by Bank One

To make matters worse, in May, they and other LPC creditors (notably Marvel Comics) filed a claim upon our inventory, upon which they have absolutely no legitimate claim. Effectively, to make it appear that they are not deliberately filing a false claim, they're feigning ignorance of the nature of LPC's business (selling books on consignment), and claiming that LPC owns our books; this is absurd, not to mention incredibly Machiavellian, given that the bank would not have lent LPC over $2 million without knowing the nature of LPC's business, and that LPC owes money to Marvel due to LPC's having previously distributed Marvel products.

The presumable purposes of this bad-faith suit were: 1) to put further pressure on the publishers—through tying up our inventory, and depriving us of income—to accept an unfavorable settlement in which the bank and Marvel would receive 100% of the money LPC owes them while we publishers would get 25 to 50 cents on the dollar; 2) to force already financially strapped publishers to come up with a lot of money for legal representation to prove that LPC carried our books on consignment, because if the bank admitted this, they would be admitting that we were "secured" creditors and thus entitled to full payment. They're almost certainly banking on the fact that we have shallow pockets, and that many of us will likely go under if we don't get at least some of our money soon. In effect, Bank One, through legal (though highly unethical) means, is engaging in extortion.

Fortunately, LPC obtained a court order freeing our inventory in the latter part of June—after we went through more than a month of unnecessary stress, expenses, and hassles because of Bank One's and Marvel Comics' disgraceful strong-arm tactics. We're still, however, faced with either accepting a very unfavorable settlement or engaging in a lawsuit in which we'd face very high expenses, which could delay our getting any of the money owed to us by as much as two years, and which we'd have no guarantee of winning. (There is nothing so unjust and so hideously contrary to common sense that it can't prevail in American courts).

Click here for more sordid details of the Bank One/Marvel Comics mugging of See Sharp Press and the other small publishers. See also Ralph Nader's take on this scandalous situation. Because of this financial mugging, we're in severe financial straits, and will have to restrict the number of books and pamphlets we publish for at least the next two years. We'll also have to restrict ourselves to publishing only those titles that we feel are "safe" financially. And even then, there's still a chance that we might go under because of the Bank One financial mugging. There are a number of things that you can do to help (including several that involve no money at all) if you can lend a hand.

Update

Unfortunately, those who filed the suit structured it in such a way that participation in it made financial sense only for those owed very large amounts of money. Hence, a large majority of the affected publishers (including See Sharp Press) declined to participate. To make matters worse, Common Courage's suit (which we believe they were well justified in filing; we just wish they'd have made participation in it easier for the smaller publishers) is holding up payment of the settlement. So, we (the small publishers) are now stuck with the worst of both worlds—a very unfavorable settlement, and one which now looks as if it won't be paid for months, more likely years. (If the bank loses, it will certainly appeal; if the publishers lose, they might appeal; in either case payment of the settlement would likely be held up for years.)