Random House must shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars for a Joan Collins manuscript it called unreadable trash and won't be getting back a $1.3 million advance.
A jury on Tuesday found that the 62-year-old actress had finished one steamy novel promised to Random House but failed to deliver the second.The split decision means the former "Dynasty" star can keep the advance and should receive more money from the two-book, $4 million deal she signed in 1990. The contract was divided equally between the books.
"I'm happy. It ended two years of absolute hell," Collins said outside the courtroom as she pumped her fist in the air.
Random House had rejected both manuscripts and sued for return of the advance. Collins had countersued for the rest of the $4 million.
Her lawyer, Kenneth Borrows, said Random House should owe Collins hundreds of thousands of dollars. Random House lawyer Robert Callagy agreed that the publisher would have to pay Collins more money, but did not know how much.
The weeklong trial focused mostly on whether the novels, "The Ruling Passion" and "Hell Hath No Fury," were sexy potboilers or unreadable trash.
Random House argued they were unpublishable. Collins insisted her contract - done by the late, legendary agent Irving "Swifty" Lazar - guaranteed payment on delivery, regardless of quality.
"Nobody held a gun to Random House's head to pay me $4 million," said Collins. "They were begging for me."
During three days of testimony, Collins described herself as the "queen of the adjectives and adverbs," but admitted needing lots of editing.
On her previous best-selling novel, "Prime Time," her editor spent a week working with her, Collins testified. This time, Random House was trying to avoid paying off the balance of her contract and provided no such help, her lawyers maintained.
Collins, whose sister Jackie is a writer of popular potboilers, had one other best-seller - her autobiography, "Past Imperfect." The sequel will conclude with a chapter on the trial.