Wacky Labels

I do not agree with the folks at the Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch who think that tort liability  is an outrageous problem in this country. However, I do appreciate their Wacky Label Contest.

This years top three finishers:

First place: A heat gun and paint remover that produces temperatures of 1,000 degrees and warns: "Do not use this tool as a hair dryer."

Second place: a label on a kitchen knife that warns: "Never try to catch a falling knife."

Third place: warning on a cocktail napkin with a map of the waterways around Hilton Head, South Carolina printed on it: "Not to be used for navigation."

Honorable mention: warning on a bottle of dried bobcat urine used to keep pests away from garden plants: "Not for human consumption."

Previous winners:

A flushable toilet brush that warns, “Do not use for personal hygiene.”

Label on a scooter for children, warning that “This product moves when used.”

An electric food blender that warning: “never remove food or other items from the blades while the product is operating.”

On a curling iron: “For external use only!”

On a hair dryer: “Do not use in shower.”

On an electric rotary tool: “This product not intended for use as a dental drill.”

My favorite: In a manual for a microwave oven: “Do not use for drying pets.”

On a label of a bottled beverage: “Twist top off with hands. Throw top away. Do not put top in mouth.”

Comments

[JG]

You might be interested in knowing that M-LAW, its founder, and the entire "Wacky Label" contest is just a fraud. These folks were investigated by the IRS and their tax exempt status was denied amid findings that they were just a front group for big tobacco and the insurance industry. They also conduct biased 'judicial evaluations' and other publicity stunts, coincidently enough, only during election years.

It isn't really funny if it is just lies made up as part of a inside-the-beltway PR stunt.

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From the moment M-LAW (Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch) crawled on the scene just in time to taint the 1996 elections, they have hidden behind a veil of fraud and half-truths.

1)M-LAW lies about its form and function.
Robert B. Dorigo Jones, president --and the only member-- of M-LAW has repeatedly stated in public that M-LAW “is not a front group for tobacco companies or the insurance industry,” is “non-partisan,” has “no ties to Washington,” is a “citizens organization” and “was created by concerned citizens.” None of this is true.
The truth is that IRS documents uncovered by during a Detroit newspaper investigation show that M-LAW received $284,500 from a Washington DC based lobbying group funded by Phillip Morris, RJR Nabisco and other insurance and corporate interests, and was masterminded by a corporate PR firm, APCO.
The truth is that M-LAW lost a long and bitter battle with the IRS to become a 501(c)(6) non-profit group due to their corporate and big money political entanglements.
Documents submitted by M-LAW during its losing battle to prove its objectivity also reveal M-LAW’s financial ties to tobacco and insurance front-group ATRA, ties that Jones had denied in print. The IRS agent in charge of stopping M-Law’s fraud explained that M-LAW was “flying under false colors, i.e.: a business group masquerading as a public watchdog.”
Despite Dorigo Jones’ public denials that M-LAW is just a front group for corporate anti-civil justice efforts, the truth is that M-LAW’s $ 35,000 bill for radio and TV buys during the 1996 elections was sent to ATRA, to the attention of ‘Tiger Joyce,’ ATRA’s executive director. A letter from the IRS mentions a ‘large grant from a tort reform group’(ATRA) and calls M-LAW a ‘single issue advocacy or lobbying group.’ M-LAW’s counsel in a letter to the IRS admits that “the organization receives support from the American Tort Reform Association in Washington DC.”
Instead of agreeing with Dorigo Jones’ repeated claims that M-LAW is a ‘grassroots organization’ the IRS noted that M-LAW is “not a membership organization.’ Instead, the IRS described M-LAW’s activities as “contracting or advocating on behalf of or performing services for another organization or organizations.”
M-LAW’s application package for 501(c)(6) non-profit status states that “Initially, the organizations funding came from other non-profit advocacy groups and Michigan job providers.’ That interesting term, ‘Michigan job providers’ apparently refers to the large corporations that Dorigo Jones denied had any involvement with M-LAW.
The IRS investigation observed that M-LAW’s “name insinuates that it was established to educate the public” but that the file did not show “that is what this organization is really about.”
M-LAW has admitted in its disclosure statements “the organization has no members” and pointed out to the IRS that it ought to quality for some tax-exempt status as an organization “having some common business interest.”
In short, M-LAW is indeed the big tobacco and insurance lobby front group that Dorigo Jones’ denies. That Dorigo Jones still denies this in public is just further proof of the lack of objectively and honesty in M-LAW’s efforts.

2) M-LAW promulgates false and misleading information under the guise of ‘public education.’
§ -‘Michigan Judicial Evaluation.’ Posing as an objective study,” this thinly veiled propaganda was put together by the ‘Economic Judicial Report’ a front group for Sequoyah Information Systems, Ltd and Sequoyah House Investments, Ltd. According to the contracting documents between these corporations, M-LAW paid Sequoyah “Twenty-Six Thousand and No/100 Dollars for the Michigan Supreme Court and Thirty-Two Thousand and No/100 for the Michigan Court of Appeals.” In addition, Sequoyah/EJR/Sequoyah made it clear that it “has and will continue to receive money from third parties to produce this evaluation.” The slant of M-LAW’s ‘evaluation’ was so obvious that it prompted Legislation aimed at declaring such judicial evaluations ‘political acts’ that would require they be reported as campaign expenditures.
§ -“Wacky Warning Labels.” M-LAW’s ties with Washington DC based corporate lobbying firm APCO are so tight that M-LAW inadvertently followed APCO’s ‘script too close and lifted some of their prop labels off a bogus list that has been circulating on the Internet for years. The rest of the ‘wacky labels’ are of similarly dubious origin.
§ M-LAW has cited as examples of ‘frivolous lawsuits’ a case filed and pursued by arch-conservative Stephan Sefranek, an ally of Engler and the M-LAW board, and the infamous ‘Capitol Chill’ suit, that was of a very suspicious origin and was promptly dismissed.
§ Dorigo Jones and M-LAW claimed in ads that Girl-Scouts were forced to sell tens of thousands of boxes of cookies each year to pay for liability insurance. But the Girl Scouts halted his ads saying they did not necessarily support torn reform and the numbers M-LAW used were undocumented and unsupported.

3) Robert Dorigo Jones is a life-long Republican politician with no non-profit or public education interests or experience.
Dorigo Jones was a Legislative Assistant to Republican House Speaker Paul Hillegonds from 1993 to 1997, was a communications advisor to the Michigan House Minority (Republican) Caucus from 1987 to 1993 and was an aid to former Wayne County Executive and losing Republican Gubernatorial candidate William Lucas.

4) MLAW was accused in 2003 of making ethnic slurs on its Website and forced by an advocacy group to remove the offending content.

[M-LAW]

The comments posted on this page by JG are 100% incorrect and have been exposed as fraudulent on radio and in public debates by M-LAW president Robert Dorigo Jones. These lies about M-LAW have been fabricated by personal injury lawyers who oppose M-LAW's non-partisan efforts to give victims of lawsuit abuse and average citizens a greater voice in the courts. However, because the comments made by JG may be taken as truth by visitors of this website, M-LAW must take a few minutes here to protect the excellent reputation it has developed over the past decade.

M-LAW was granted tax exempt status ten years ago by the IRS and has never had any problems with the IRS. Its respected board of directors consists of leaders from around Michigan in business, medicine and community service. Its books are reviewed each year by the largest public accounting firm in Michigan, and M-LAW complies with all federal guidelines for tax exempt organizations.

All of the information M-LAW has posted on its website about the high cost of lawsuit abuse on community groups like the Girl Scouts, Little League of America and others is entirely true and is a matter of public record. M-LAW's judicial evaluations are non-partisan and have provided citizens with the most unbiased information about judges in history. The personal injury lawyers do not like non-lawyers "meddling" in the courts they have tried to control for decades, so they have launched a smear campaign against M-LAW.

M-LAW has been the subject of favorable reports on national television many times over the years including on ABC's 20/20, NBC Nightly News, Fox News, MSNBC and Court TV. M-LAW is a totally independent organization. The trial lawyers have either confused M-LAW with other groups around the country or are intentionally misleading the public for their own personal gain.

The fact of matter is, the United States of America is the most lawsuit-happy society on the face of the earth, and consumers pay thousands of dollars more each year for products and services because of meritless lawsuits filed by personal injury lawyers. Personal injury lawyers have never been able to provide any evidence that Americans are safer because of all of these lawsuits. Conversely, there is evidence that these lawsuits have placed the health and safety of the American public at risk.

American consumers will benefit from reform efforts that provide more balance to the civil justice system while preserving the right of victims to sue. These are the facts that the personal injury lawyers who make millions of dollars off the current disfunctional system want to supress.