Who Are These Guys Working For?
September 2, 2009
A couple Georgia trial lawyers strolled out of the courtroom with $1 million in legal fees after settling a class action against Pitney Bowes, while the plaintiffs they represented got … drum roll please … a coupon good for a discount on their next purchase of toner! Who says these guys will throw their “clients” under a bus for a quick buck? (Read the article here).
Pitney Bowes allegedly committed the heinous act of blast faxing advertisements to the customers of another office supply company they bought. The class action legal sharks claimed these faxes ran afoul of the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 (yeah, it really exists – here’s the Wikipedia entry).
Given the awesome responsibility of fighting two wars, balancing the bloated federal budget, reversing global warming, and preventing a meltdown in the financial markets (oops), it’s a wonder Congress had time for such mundane tasks as making annoying faxes illegal. But whatever “wrongs” Congress intended to right with this bill, I’m sure creating another means to enrich rich lawyers wasn’t among them.