Family settles Burroughs suit

A family that claimed it was defamed in the bestselling book “Running With Scissors” has settled a lawsuit against the writer and his publisher.

Author Augusten Burroughs and publisher St. Martin’s Press agreed to call the work a “book” instead of “memoirs,” in the author’s note -- though it still will be described as a memoir on the cover and elsewhere -- and to change the acknowledgments page in future editions to say that the Turcotte family’s memories of events he describes “are different than my own.” It will also express regret for “any unintentional harm” to them.

Howard Cooper, a lawyer for the family, said financial terms of the settlement are confidential.

The family’s lawsuit had sought $2 million in damages for defamation, invasion of privacy and emotional distress. It alleged the book is largely fictional.

Burroughs has said the book is only loosely based on his life, but in a statement released Thursday by St. Martin’s he defended his work as “entirely accurate.”