In a time when stories rarely make it into action sports magazines without first being vetted by the companies who paid for the trips it’s interesting to follow Scott Bass’s Surfermag.com story of Owl Chapman’s lawsuit against The Surfer’s Journal.
Apparently, Owl wasn’t happy with the way he was characterized in a Jeff Johnson story featured in the August/September 2006 issue of TSJ titled, “El Hombre Invisible (With Apologies to William S. Burroughs) An Owl Chapman Story.” He was so angry that he filed suit in Oahu Federal court. Here’s what Owl is upset about:
According to the court, “The Article as a whole–while a personal, narrative account fraught with descriptive, figurative language–generally implies that (1) Johnson ordered a surfboard from Plaintiff and (2) Plaintiff failed to deliver the surfboard on time as promised, took Johnson’s money up front and then deliberately avoided him for approximately two months, and failed to craft the surfboard to Johnson’s specifications.” . . . Specifically Chapman’s lawsuit claims that, “A ridiculously extreme portrait (indeed a most sinister caricature) of plaintiff emerges that casts him in a false light —- and which, further, points to a grandiose egotist who is mean-spirited, self-serving, full of braggadocio, impossibly arrogant and in the end, a degenerate, pathetic and drug-addled social outcast.”
Wait, isn’t that how it always is when buying a custom shaped board from a genius shaper?
[Link: Surfermag.com via LionizePR]
Aftermath: In September 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal ended Chapman’s four-year legal effort when they agreed with the original jury verdict finding that Chapman’s charges against The Surfers Journal, its publishers, and the article author were unjustified. Total costs concerning this action for the defense, and to the public of Hawaii for conducting the trial, ended up running over half-a-million dollars. Mr. Chapman continues to surf and build boards on the North Shore with no financial responsibility for that cost.
Owl no doubt is one of the best gun shaper ever. The article about him no doubt was written by a hodad. If you want to know about owl or his boards ask someone whom spends time in Hawaiian waters
Owl shaped a board for me not too long ago, i gave him the money upfront and he delivered the most beautiful board I’ve ever owned, and he shaped it and had it glassed in less than 10 days. Not only that, when I went to see this NS figure he welcomed me into his shaping room and took his time talking to me about what I needed. I wouldn’t have cared how long i waited for it, now i have an owl board, and i’m stoked on it. feels amazing dropping in, down the line and turning, in my humble opinion its a different experience altogether. it also looks damn good when its hanging on my ceiling. . . how much money do you spend on worthless shit every year?
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