The Book Martha Hart Sued to Remove from Canadian Bookstores

In January 2002, H.B. Fenn and Co. Ltd. Pulled Under the Mat from bookstores across Canada. The withdrawal formed part of a settlement with Martha Hart, who had sued over statements in the book. The publisher expressed regret, and money went to the Owen Hart Foundation. A book that had been prepared as a commercial account of wrestling’s most prominent family was no longer available for sale. Its disappearance became the clearest public consequence of a dispute that had begun with authorship, family history, and the decision to put private grievances into print.

The project belonged to Diana Hart and Kirstie McLellan. Diana, a member of the Hart wrestling family, co-wrote Under the Mat: Inside Wrestling's Greatest Family with McLellan, a journalist. The title placed the book inside a world where family identity and professional identity were difficult to separate. It promised access not merely to wrestling as a business, but to the people whose relationships had helped sustain its public mythology. That combination gave the book commercial value—and made its treatment of living family members legally consequential.

Fenn Publishing scheduled the book for October 2001. By June 5, the project had entered the publication campaign, with Diana discussing the work as a forthcoming title. The announcement fixed the book in a recognizable sequence: co-authors, publisher, planned release, and an audience prepared to receive an insider account. This was not an abandoned manuscript circulating privately. It was being positioned for bookstores and readers before Martha Hart’s legal action changed the publisher’s calculation.

Diana later described the project as an unsuccessful journey. She also characterized it as a book drawn from her life in wrestling. Those descriptions reveal the central collision within Under the Mat: the authors’ claim to personal experience met the legal protections surrounding reputation. A family history could be presented as testimony, memory, or criticism. Once it named relatives and associates in negative terms, however, publication exposed the writers and publisher to consequences beyond family disagreement.

Martha Hart entered the dispute as Owen Hart’s widow and as the person who would challenge the book in court. In November 2001, she filed a lawsuit over statements contained in Under the Mat. She said the book was filled with distortions, misstatements, and unjustified slurs. Her complaint converted a conflict over family portrayal into a formal legal action against the publication and its commercial circulation.

The lawsuit placed the publisher between two forms of authority. Diana Hart and McLellan controlled the text they had written, but H.B. Fenn and Co. Ltd. Controlled its continued distribution. Martha Hart’s objection therefore confronted not only the authors’ version of family history, but also the business decision to place that version in Canadian bookstores. The question facing the publisher was practical as well as legal: whether continued sales justified the cost and exposure of defending the book.

The dispute did not end with a public trial over each contested passage. Instead, the publisher removed Under the Mat from Canadian bookstores in January 2002 as part of a negotiated settlement with Martha Hart. The action was measurable and immediate. Retail distribution stopped, and the book’s planned commercial life was interrupted only months after its scheduled release.

The settlement also included an expression of regret from H.B. Fenn and Co. Ltd. A financial payment was made to the Owen Hart Foundation, tying the resolution to the charitable institution that carried Owen Hart’s name. The amount and complete contractual terms were not made public. What was visible was the publisher’s chosen remedy: withdrawal, regret, and payment rather than continued distribution followed by a judgment on the disputed allegations.

Owen Hart remained present in the dispute even though the lawsuit centered on statements about family members and related matters. His death formed part of the book’s background, while the foundation bearing his name became the recipient of the settlement payment. That connection gave the resolution a memorial dimension without turning the lawsuit into a case about Owen’s wrestling career. The legal conflict concerned the book’s language and Martha Hart’s response to it.

The settlement resolved the publisher’s exposure and removed the book from sale, but it did not supply a public finding that every disputed statement was true or false. Martha Hart’s allegations remained allegations within a case that ended through agreement. The withdrawal demonstrated the publisher’s response; it did not adjudicate the underlying family narratives. That distinction is essential because the book’s disappearance could be mistaken for a verdict on its contents.

Under the Mat therefore left behind two separate outcomes. Diana Hart and Kirstie McLellan produced the account they had intended to publish, and Fenn Publishing brought it to the edge of the Canadian market. Martha Hart’s lawsuit then forced the publisher to choose removal and settlement. By January 2002, the book’s availability had ended, regret had been expressed, and the Owen Hart Foundation had received a financial payment. The public consequence was settled distribution. The family history inside the book was not publicly tried passage by passage.