[extropy-chat] Professor Being Sued Over Anti-Aging Comments

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Matthew Gingell <gingell at gnat.com> wrote:

> 
> On Jun 21, 2005, at 4:59 AM, BillK wrote:
> 
> > The $20 million fine was because of fraud, deception and unfair
> > business practices.
> > You can't sue for damages if you are dead.
> 
> But you can! 

Bill is quite wrong here. You personally may not see an award, but your
estate can certainly sue for wrongful death, defective product, etc and
people do it all the time.

> 
> > Similarly you can't sue for
> > damages if the fraudsters have closed the company and opened up
> > elsewhere with a different name and a different scam.
> 
> That's right - and I think this is part of the rationale for making  
> fraud a criminal rather than a civil matter. 

Bill is also wrong here. If corporate officers operate illegally, the
corporate veil is pierced and the owners can be gotten to personally.
It doesn't matter if they set up shop elsewhere, they can be tracked
down and held responsible. It happens every day today.

> 
> > By going the private route of insurance policies and consumer
> > education you are transferring a vast workload on to every member
> of
> > the population. I would much prefer to let a government agency
> worry
> > about chasing the bad guys. I have plenty to worry about already,
> > without having to investigate the truth of every advert or analyse
> > carefully every future purchase.
> 
> And it's a workload people in general are extremely poorly suited to.

Bullshit. Consumers are all quite capable of analysing value if they
choose to. Furthermore, individual consumers don't have to do the
analysis alone, that is what Consumer Reports and other independent
agencies do, they do the analysis for you. Nor do cheated consumers
have to pursue justice alone, that is what class action lawsuits are
for: leaving the work to the legal experts. So Bill is exactly wrong on
every point here.

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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