Consumer Fraud Archive

Tennis Balls Get their Fuzz Up in Top Seed Lawsuit

May 7th, 2012. By AbiK

We’re over a month away from Wimbledon, but there’s plenty of action on the court for tennis fans. Make that in the court as Penn delivers an offensive lob over to Dunlap in the form of a false advertising lawsuit. Seems Dunlap has had the balls (too easy, had to take it) to dub itself the “World’s No. 1 Ball” and the company also claims to have a 70% share of the worldwide tennis ball market. Apparently, Penn (owned by Head USA, Inc.) doesn’t agree.

Note, fwiw, Penn dubs itself as “America’s No. 1 Selling Ball”.

The tennis ball lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut also includes charges that Dunlap had previously agreed to stop using “No. 1” in its advertising, but hasn’t done so.

For those who are interested, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) publishes a list of “USTA-approved” tennis balls each year. And, in true diplomatic fashion, the list of brands is shown in alphabetical order—clearly they’re not stepping into the clay, er fray, by showing any favoritism to either ball brand.

No word from Wilson in the matter—but let’s face it, they had their hands full last week making commemorative NFL Draft footballs. And Prince? Well, they just filed for bankruptcy.

Tags: #1 Tennis Ball, Dunlop, false advertising, Head USA, Penn, Prince, Tennis Ball Lawsuit, USTA, Wilson
Posted in Consumer Fraud, lawsuits | No Comments »

Is ‘Jesus Heals’ False Advertising When He Doesn’t?

May 7th, 2012. By AbiK

Cruising down I-95 a while back there was a billboard that simply said, “Jesus Saves”. No idea who sponsored it, though one would imagine it was a Christian organization of some sort. Regardless, as with most billboards, it was advertising something. In this case, Jesus. The come-on of course being that if you “buy” Jesus, He’ll seal the transaction by saving you (or your soul). But, what if He doesn’t? Is that false advertising?

Well, a recent Australian billboard took things a bit further by saying, “Jesus Heals Cancer” (see picture, photo by Paul Taylor, nzherald). The billboard also reportedly had a tally of those whom Jesus had apparently healed—a total of six cancer survivors. Glory be to God.

However, not everyone was happy with the Jesus Heals billboard—including an Australian family whose 3 year old son is undergoing treatment for leukemia. Their beef? The sign read like a factual statement—not a message of hope, and therefore, it’s misleading—and offensive.

Amen.

And one can only wonder had the 3 year old been old enough to read, how would mommy and daddy be expected to explain why Jesus hadn’t healed him yet? Were they not ‘good enough’ Christians (assuming, of course, that they’re Christians)? Why was he being ostracized from the healthy and the cleansed?

After the Australian Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a total of nine such complaints, it launched an investigation into the matter. The result? The ASA deemed that while the sponsor of the ad did not have any intention to offend, it clearly did not display the ‘”due sense of social responsibility required” and therefore breached the code of ethics.’ (nzherald.co.nz)

Unfortunately, most of us know someone who—even with ‘taking the narrow path’ in life—has succumbed to cancer. And most practicing Christians certainly believe that while God is omnipotent, there is only so much He can, or will, do—leaving us mere mortals to find solace in platitudes like “God must have needed him/her in heaven”. What else is there to say, after all?

The billboard in Australia was the work of the Equippers Church—their tagline: “Equipping People for Life through Faith in Jesus Christ”. Here’s an excerpt from one of their web pages (boldface added by author):

Equippers exists to create an environment where young and old of every culture can easily connect and discover the purpose of their existence. We value the different cultures that make up our community, however we also believe in the importance in having the same spirit in all our expressions. We encourage everyone to put the culture of the Kingdom ahead of their own cultural expectations, as we become united in the same purpose, the cause of Christ.

We believe that the Bible is inspired by God—that it is accurate authoritative and applicable to every part of our lives. Our desire is to communicate the message of God’s word without compromise in a relevant, life-giving way.

Draw your own conclusions from the above, but one word comes to mind: fundamentalist. To round out your picture of the Equippers Church, a few applicable keywords might be: Christian contemporary music, missions, ministries, Hallelujah Project, Shout Conference. You get the vibe. Unfortunately, the vibe tends to call for drinking the proverbial kool-aid and encouraging others to partaketh of the cup as well. Even if it means buying a billboard to proselytize the weak into thinking they’ll be ‘healed’.

To their credit, they do practice what they preach and do so with apparent conviction—case in point, here’s an example from Senior Pastor Kathy Monk’s twitter stream:

Choose to do life with Jesus, the other alternative is ridiculous, stupid & deadly…#JustDoIt

Deadly? Stupid?

Wouldn’t that be a nice message for a cancer patient right now—yes, Jesus heals cancer—but wait there’s more!—an addendum that didn’t make it onto the billboard: to NOT follow Jesus is deadly! And guess what? If you don’t follow Him, you’re stupid, too! Christianity at it’s most ‘Christian’ there, right? Thankfully not the Christianity I grew up with (for the record, I’m Christian born and bred.)

So yes, clearer minds prevailed on this one. The sign was apparently updated to read: “Jesus Heals every Sickness & Every Disease – Matthew 4:23”. Which, from a false advertising perspective is just fine. After all, when you’re trying to promote what’s in essence a best-selling book and its book club, what better to use than a pull quote?

Tags: Consumer Fraud, Equippers Australia, Equippers Church, false advertising, Jesus Heals Billboard
Posted in Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues | 1 Comment »

CarFax Consumer Fraud? You be the Judge

May 3rd, 2012. By AbiK

This kind of thing can really tick a person off—when a website does a bait and switch with you. Check out CarFax—the ‘vehicle history reports’ website. Folks go to CarFax with pretty much one purpose in mind—to look up a car’s VIN number (the Vehicle Identification Number) in order to find out the car’s repair history—or what problems that particular car might have. Here’s the CarFax homepage:

You’ll note—how can you not?—the khaki-clad Car Fox inviting you to do a “Free Vehicle Search”. Talk about a wolf (ok, a fox) in sheep’s clothing. No asterisks. No disclaimers. Just a couple of fields that you can input either a car’s VIN number or the license plate number and state where it’s registered and…bingo!…you should get some car info. For free, right?

No, not right. Here’s what you get on the next screen:

Want any actual information about the car—it’ll cost you $34.99. See it’s a “vehicle” search—not a “vehicle information” search.

Now, I knew this already—trying to get a vehicle history report online for free is like trying to get blood from a stone. But at least on sites like Vin Central you get a portion of the history report and then there is a fee if you want the whole report. The key, however, is that Vin Central never says or implies upfront that you’ll get anything for free. So with Vin Central, you at least feel that the company hasn’t tried to bamboozle you.

But CarFax? When it looks like a duck and it walks like a duck…and this duck looks and walks like false advertising. And sadly, just a quick search on LawyersandSettlements.com shows that CarFax false advertising complaints are not new.

If you scroll to the very bottom of the CarFax homepage, to the list of links there, you’ll see “FREE SERVICES”. And yes, you can find out whether a car has been identified as a lemon or not. For free. You can also conduct a CarFax “Record Check”—which, ironically, is basically the same thing as the “Free Vehicle Search” above—you get a “search” but no “search results“. The Record Check tells you how many records have been found and then if you want to actually see those records, well, you need to hand over that $34.99. But at least you know you were only supposed to get a record check—not necessarily the records AND the information found in those records.

So is this CarFax consumer fraud? It certainly looks like a bait and switch to me, but you be the judge.

Tags: Bait and Switch, CarFax, CarFax.com, Consumer Fraud, false advertising, Vin Central, VIN history, VIN search
Posted in Automotive, Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues | 3 Comments »

Monday Minute 4.30: Legal News, Lawsuit & Settlements You Might’ve Missed

May 1st, 2012. By AbiK

Lots in legal news headlines from the past week that you might’ve missed including our weekly Asbestos News column and Week Adjourned—the weekly wrap of top class action lawsuits and settlements.

This week we heard about the Bumble Bee Tuna class action lawsuit (over false advertising claims) as well as the Vita Coco false advertising settlement. Big news with type 2 diabetes drug Actos as well–is it time for round #2 with Actos lawsuits? Find more in our Monday Minute update…

 

Tags: Actos Lawsuit, Bumble Bee Tuna, Class Action, false advertising, lawsuits, Legal News, Settlement, Vita Coco Settlement
Posted in Asbestos Mesothelioma, Class Action, Consumer Fraud, lawsuits, Settlement | No Comments »

Think You’re a Bill of Rights Hot Shot? Take the Constitution Quiz

April 22nd, 2012. By AbiK

Tags: Amendments, Bill of Rights, Constitution Quiz, US Constitution
Posted in Contest, Emerging Issues, Tort Reform | No Comments »