A Chicago group actively devoted to media issues.

From the March/April 2003 issue of Adbusters magazine. Scott Carney writes:

Since corporations are considered individuals in the eyes of the law they are entitled to all the advantages of citizenship. They also bear all the same weaknesses. This morning I decided to plant a small-claims lawsuit against Apple Computer for a faulty device they sold to me. To file in the state of Wisconsin costs me somewhere around $15 as long as I show up to the hearing in person. Apple Computer on the other hand will need to pay for a lawyer to represent them, which could cost as much as $300 an hour plus expenses. If they don't show up, I win the suit; if they show up and win then they still have lost some money.

If just half the readership of Adbusters thought it was a good idea to attack a single corporation, let's say Exxon, with 25,000 separate small-claims lawsuits you could imagine how miffed Exxon would be.

Hmmm. Why stop at Exxon? Is anyone reading this a subscriber to the Chicago Tribune? You could get some easy cash--in small claims court. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to assemble a case on the grounds that the Chicago Tribune, a "newspaper", is in violation of its implied promise to deliver the news. It's not totally unheard of: Rocky Mountain Media Watch filed a similar, but larger-scale, lawsuit against Denver-area news outlets, but lost. Attacking in small-claims court gives the Good Guys better odds of winning. Write CMA if interested.

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