Harper Lee Sues Agent Over Copyright on ‘Mockingbird’

Harper Lee, who skillfully chronicled courtroom drama in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” is tangled in a legal drama of her own. Ms. Lee, 87, filed a lawsuit last week accusing her literary agent, Samuel Pinkus, of improperly collecting royalties from “Mockingbird” since 2007. According to the complaint, filed in federal court in New York, Mr. Pinkus “engaged in a scheme to dupe Harper Lee, then 80 years old with declining hearing and eyesight,” into assigning the book’s copyright to his company. Ms. Lee does not recall signing the document or discussing it with Mr. Pinkus, the complaint said.

Ms. Lee, who suffered a stroke in June 2007 that has limited her mobility, lives in an assisted living facility in Monroeville, Ala. “To Kill a Mockingbird” was first published in 1960 and won a Pulitzer Prize. It is her only published book.