“The Man in the High Castle” & Plausible Allegations

“The Man in the High Castle,” a TV series based upon Philip K. Dick‘s same named novel will premiere on Amazon Prime tomorrow. It’s already receiving rapturous reviews. The plot of Dick’s story is summed up nicely in a reply brief in Peters v. Murdoch, 2013 WL 11073510 (C.D.Cal. 2013):

In order to survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must plead plausible allegations….The Plaintiff’s obligation is to plead factual content which allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged….Plaintiff’s Complaint tells a fairy tale in which the Attorney General of the State of California, virtually all the civil judges assigned to the Riverside Superior Court, and Judge Cohn of the San Bernardino Superior Court all conspired to assist Rupert Murdoch prevail in a case about a teenager creating a fake MySpace account. They went to all this trouble even though Plaintiff’s complaint against Mr. Murdoch failed as a matter of law….Plaintiff’s Complaint is as plausible as waking up in a world where the United States is jointly occupied by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan and the I-Ching is the path to truth. Dick, Phillip, The Man In The High Castle, Putnam’s Sons, New York (1962)….The liberal pleading rules and understandable latitude given to pro se litigants does not require this Court to accept such preposterous canard. In truth, Plaintiff has no case and her lawsuit should be dismissed. 

Given that this is my favorite work by Dick, I’m definitely looking forward to the series. Frank Spotnitz (“The X-Files”) adapted the book, and Ridley Scott is one of the producers. 

-CM