The Mirror hits the bigtime

◼ Media Boogeyman: If Activists Scare You Away from Fish Oil, They Save the Fishes! Breitbart
...What might a real journalist do – one who wasn’t obviously biased towards Eco-Activists? For starters, take another look at who actually is named in the lawsuit: the largest producers of oil supplements. Why? Try to harm the biggest retailers and manufacturers and you harm the majority of the industry’s sales. Where’s the reporting on this angle? Non-existent.

How about the angle that only ten supplements were tested by the plaintiffs out of the hundreds on the market? Why hasn’t any reporter asked about the testing methods? What methods were used? What standards did they conform to?

Who exactly is the plaintiff – Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation? At least we have some intrepid bloggers who investigated exactly the kind of shady outfit Mateel is – one that makes profits from frivolous lawsuit settlements on the backs on the working people of America. As the Humboldt Mirror blog points out:

Mateel settled 39 lawsuits in 2008 for over $1.7 million….but it’s not just warning labels, product reformulations and excessive attorneys fees that Mateel is after. Through Prop. 65 lawsuit settlements, Mateel also pilfered … “other distributions” that was handed over to other environmental groups.

Oh, now the fact that the largest (read: deepest pockets) in the supplement industry got sued makes a little more sense, doesn’t it?

How’s that for real reporting?

Go back and look at all those articles you just Googled. Did any mainstream media outlet cover Mateel’s strategy? If you said “no”, then you win a pitchfork to help shove the PCB Boogeyman back in his closet.

The title is wrong, though - they don't save the fishes, they rake in the big bucks.

Big money in Predatory Litigation

Hmmm. Pg. 1 In 2008... Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation, $1,775,300.00, Attorney's Fees and Costs...$1,060,000.00... if I am reading this right, they gave a shitload of money (other distribution) to ERF (Ecological Rights Foundation), that would be "Humboldt Paykeeper's" predatory litigious parent... Pg. 26-31 from 2000-2008..., you got a calculator, heraldo? Pg. 26 1/3/08...$10,000.00, 1/14/08...$20,000.00, 1/22/08...$15,000.00, 1/23/08...$15,000.00, 2/15/08...$20,000.00, 2/19/08...$20,000.00; Pg. 27 3/3/08...$20,000.00 (ERF and CATS), 3/3/08...$5,000.00, 3/3/08...$20,000.00, 3/26/08...$15,000.00.... and on and on and on it goes

Pg. 2 from 2000-2008... $14,166,687.00...280 settlements... Attorney's Fees and costs... $7,917,000.00

AND The "Ecological Rights Foundation" themselves another 38 settlements,,, $950,000, 750.00, roughly half of that in lawyers fees and costs...

That's just in one document re: Prop 65. More money to CATS, ◼ KFPA ($35,000.00 and $15,000.00 Fifty grand? Is that a radio station?What'd the radio station do for that?)

◼ California Proposition 65
Funny, As You Sow shows up here too...

ongoing, will add links

The Mirror picked it up:
◼ Proposition 65: How to exploit a good-intentioned law to divert money to shadowy, litigious environmental groups (Feb. 11, 2010)
With a legal loophole on their side, 2008 was a spectacularly profitable year for the Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation. Never heard of the Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation? That’s not surprising. Mateel is a quiet little operation based out of Eureka that targets big businesses whose corporate headquarters are mostly far away from California in places like Maryland, Illinois and Ohio. According to California’s Attorney General’s Office, which tracks Prop. 65 lawsuits, Mateel settled 39 lawsuits in 2008 for over $1.7 million. Kudos to local lawyer William Verick for representing Mateel and raking in a hefty $1.06 million in attorney fees — roughly 60 percent of the total money awarded in the settlements.
But it’s not just warning labels, product reformulations and excessive attorneys fees that Mateel is after. Through Prop. 65 lawsuit settlements, Mateel also pilfered a shit load of additional dollars through “other distributions” that was handed over to other environmental groups, left-leaning radio stations and other interesting folks. How much? Well, just a paltry $619,850 in 2008.
So, just where did all that extra cash go from the Prop. 65 bonanza payouts?