Diaper Lawsuit & Fox News: The Deflection of Blame is Dangerous to Your Safety

Back on May 20, 2010, InjuryBoard Member, David Mittleman, penned a blog about a new class action against Procter and Gamble, over their Pampers brand, "Dry Max" diapers. According to the lawsuit, the product causes burns and severe rashes on infants and toddlers who wear the product. The class action suit comes in the aftermath of the launch of a Facebook page, entitled "Pampers Bring Back the Old Cruisers/Swaddlers", developed by a concerned parent who did not get anywhere with Procter and Gamble when she brought the matter to their attention.

I don’t know whether the "burns and severe rashes" alleged in the lawsuit are more serious than simple diaper rash that all diaper wearing kids get from time to time. I presume that time will tell and I prefer to let the evidence presented on both sides, in the lawsuit, do the talking. If we are talking about routine instances of "ordinary" diaper rash, the lawsuit is potentially dubious and the lawyers and plaintiffs who brought it will be dealt with by the court. If however, there is something seriously wrong with the product, the lawsuit proves it, damages are paid and the product is removed from commerce or improved, then, once again, the greatest safety tool known to man, the lawsuit or the threat of one, will have served its purpose and done its job to protect our citizens from dangerous and defective products. That is what lawsuits are for; that is their power and place in our system.

On June 11, 2010, along comes Fox News, with an article criticizing (with absolutely no evidence to support this criticism) the Facebook page and the lawsuit. I have linked the article, at the risk of providing it more reads, but I do so to point out how absurd the attack on our civil justice system and trial lawyers is becoming. The article attacks lawyers’ use of social media to create what the author calls "tort hell". Never mind that the Facebook page was started by a concerned parent, not by a lawyer. The author compares this potentially serious consumer protection lawsuit to an episode of a television series where a teacher (who moonlights as a crystal meth producer) uses his son’s charitable website to launder his drug earnings. Her message or moral, you ask? That the Internet and social media can be utilized for good things, but can also be used for "shady" and "lucrative business" purposes that only sound good. So filing a lawsuit for the protection of the public interest and in support of public justice is now a "shady" business practice?! Fox News has become a trivial lackey for corporate interest and profits over consumer safety and should be considered a menace to the at-large public.

This particular Fox News author expresses mock surprise that one of the Facebook page administrators is from Seattle and that the class action was filed by a Seattle law firm. It is shocking, shocking, isn’t it? A Seattle plaintiff has the audacity to seek the services of a Seattle lawyer? It must be a conspiracy!

And the author is critical of what she calls the misuse of social media to drum up class action lawsuit victims. Personally, I think that social media is an excellent method of delivering a public safety message to a mass audience. The author thinks the lawsuit is "tort hell", because it is about "simple diaper rash", which she says is as common as the common cold. But what if it isn’t? What if it is about something far more serious? What then?

Here’s the problem: She has no idea what the lawsuit is really about; she doesn’t know that the diapers cause "simple diaper rash"; she and the doctor she quotes have reviewed no evidence to support their contentions. These are helpless infants we are discussing here. What if these diapers are causing more than simple contact dermatitis? What if these diapers are causing burns, serious enough to be spoken about in terms of degree? What if the diapers are dangerously defective and the lawsuit is responsible for getting them off grocery store shelves? Is that a bad thing or a good thing? Here, as in many other instances where conservative, pro-business, authors scream "lawsuit abuse", this author trivializes what may be serious damages without knowing or caring how serious they really are. That’s what tort reform advocates do.

And, of course, her final premise is to trash the lawyers who brought suit on behalf of the helpless victims. Here’s what she says about social media and lawyers:

Without social media, it’s safe to bet that relatively-few cases of diaper rash likely would not have escalated into a major class-action lawsuit. Is social media to blame? No, not exactly. As is so often the case with a number of unpleasant things in life, I think the lawyers are to blame.

And that gets to the nitty-gritty, doesn’t it. With conservative, anti-justice types, it is always the lawyers’ fault and it is always about money, not about safety. Again, I don’t know how serious these burns are. I don’t know whether the product is seriously defective or not. I don’t know whether it is ‘simple diaper rash’ or 3rd degree burns. But, I promise you, neither does she! I do know that the purpose of a lawsuit like this is to get to the truth and get a product, if it is dangerously defective, off the market. That’s what pro-safety lawsuits and lawyers do. Corporate fear of lawyers and lawsuits is the biggest reason that any products in America are made safely. If the product is dangerous, if it is not safe, Procter and Gamble, not the lawyers who sued them, is to blame, right? Watch and follow this lawsuit and judge for yourself. But, hey, this is Fox News… and with Fox News and other conservative, pro-business, anti-consumer advocates, aren’t the lawyers always to blame?

Mark Bello has thirty-three years experience as a trial lawyer and twelve years as an underwriter and situational analyst in the lawsuit funding industry. He is the owner and founder of Lawsuit Financial Corporation which helps provide cash flow solutions and consulting when necessities of life funding is needed during litigation. Bello is a Justice Pac member of the American Association for Justice, Sustaining and Justice Pac member of the Michigan Association for Justice, Business Associate of the Florida, Tennessee, and Colorado Associations for Justice, a member of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Michigan and the Injury Board.