Bob Dorigo Jones sends us the following note:
Happy New Year!
This is a quick note to let you know that on January 4, Warner Books officially releases Remove Child Before Folding, the 101 Stupidest, Silliest and Wackiest Warning Labels Ever, a new book based on M-LAW’s annual Wacky Warning Label Contest. Kicking off the media coverage will be NBC’s Today Show which is scheduled to air a segment Thursday morning at 7:50am Eastern Time. Sorry for the short notice.
According to the Today Show schedule, which is always subject to change, Matt Lauer and the rest of the cast will discuss the book and try to guess which warning labels go with the various products. Not coincidentally, M-LAW also announces the winners of our 10th annual Wacky Warning Label Contest tomorrow.
Of course, this is fun stuff, but we do this for a serious reason, too — to get America talking about how excessive litigation is changing our culture in ways that aren’t so good for our families and communities. Since its inception, M-LAW’s wacky label project has been quoted on the floor of Congress, in speeches by CEO’s of Fortune 100 companies, and by authors of numerous books as proof that common sense legal reform is greatly needed. Remove Child Before Folding is available at all major bookstores and all royalties go to fund efforts to restore fairness and reliability to the courts.
Best wishes for a great 2007!
Bob
P.S. Tomorrow morning, click on the following link to see which label was voted the wackiest of 2007 — http://wackywarnings.com
For earlier editions of the Wacky Warning winners, see Jan. 6 and links therein; note also a June complaint that a wacky warning on self-heating coffee wasn’t sufficiently idiot-proof.
Update: The 2007 winner was “Do not put any person in this washer.” I much preferred runners up “Please do not use this [Yellow Pages] directory while operationg a moving vehicle” and “Don’t try to dry your phone in a microwave oven.”
3 Comments
Guys I’m a lawyer and I love your site. You are taking on one bad aspect of our legal system – the rise of unjustified litigation and greedy lawyers.
But I believe there is an equally important issue with the legal system, and that is the slowness and inefficiency in dealing with the necessary cases – ie a business enforcing a debt, or any other blantant case.
I agree that unjustified silly litigation should be stamped out, but for the genuine people and businesses who want to enforce a debt, they should have quick and efficient access to enforce what’s theirs.
Currently we dont have that, our sprawling laws are in a mess, our courts are glacially slow and expensive, and their procedures unclear and arcane. We should be pushing for a massive efficiency drive (including using less lawyers!) in our system!.
My favorite is the disclaimer on the car commercial that the commercial is fantasy and cars can’t drive on the edge of buildings.
Dave,
I don’t think the problems are disconnected. Because of frivolous suits, companies hire high-powered lawyers to smack the legitimate claims, and courts’ time is wasted. Fixing this problem will make it easier to sue legitimately.