SHORT TAKES : Chapin’s Widow Settles Lawsuit
HUNTINGTON, N.Y. — The widow of singer Harry Chapin has settled for $65,000 a lawsuit in which a writer accused her of interfering with publication of a biography of Chapin.
Sandy Chapin’s lawyer, Tony Curto, who had maintained in court that there was no interference with the book, described the agreement as settlement of a nuisance.
The writer, Peter Coan, sued the Chapin estate for $9 million in 1984, alleging that the biography he contracted to write for Pedigree Books three years earlier was suppressed because the estate threatened legal action. The book was published in 1987 by Ashley Books of Long Island.
Coan said he accepted the settlement because pursuing the case would have cost much more in time and money.
Chapin was killed in a car crash on the Long Island Expressway in 1981. His widow lives in Huntington Bay.
Sign up for our Book Club newsletter
Get the latest news, events and more from the Los Angeles Times Book Club, and help us get L.A. reading and talking.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
