In Boston today, litigators are salivating like a pit bull with a juicy steak dangling in front of him. Some boneheads decided to do a guerilla ad campaign for a late night Cartoon Network show by placing electronic devices around the city. Naturally, when the devices were first noticed, they were treated as possible bombs, and the city's law enforcement agencies leapt into action. I watched this yesterday afternoon, wondering like everyone else if this was some kind of terrorist activity. It was only when I got up to get ready for work that I learned it was all a hoax, a publicity stunt gone awry. The folks in Boston aren't laughing, however. The city's traffic was snarled, the subway shut down, river traffic along the Charles stopped. And then there's the costs of the huge law enforcement reaction, the bomb squad, etc.
Well, you know that the lawyers will make out like bandits on this one. How many people will take part in the class action suit for damages for mental anguish and fear of a terrorist attack, for loss of business due to snarled traffic, etc.? The Cartoon Network is owned by Time-Warner. Two words: Deep pockets. For the lawyers, it's like winning the lottery.
