I was recently read a report by the American Association of Justice about bad conduct by bad actors. The report was titled “Worst Corporate Conduct of 2017” and it describes morally reprehensible actions by various well-known companies and corporations. Reading about this stuff is enough to make your hair stand on end. The most offensive perpetrators of justice were listed in the report, including (and unfortunately not limited to): fossil fuel energy companies in their utter and complete denial of their perpetuating and compounding effects climate change; General Motors and Takata in their sluggish response in taking corrective action to recall and replace potentially lethal airbags in vehicles that were mass distributed; and USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University in their failure to protect female athletes from sexual predators. Also listed, and most familiar to at us at Adler Giersch in our daily mission to fight insurance companies and make them play fair, was auto insurer State Farm in their attempt to rig the justice system to avoid accountability and pay fair claims for people who are legitimately injured.
The report also described what I found to be the bitter icing on a rotten cake: the slick apology that follows most of these disgraceful acts. It’s known as the art of the “Corporate Apology” and these companies spend millions on millions crafting their public response to pretend that they are sorry, without taking real, on-the-ground action to address what they have done and make it right, or take any real accountability for damage done. They seem to think they can get away with it.
If you are interested in learning more about what goes on behind the curtain, here is a link to the report: Worst Corporate Conduct of 2017
