A Litigious Schwarzenegger Wants to Close the Door to Others

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

By Jamie Court, Jamie Court is the author of "Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Personal Freedom and What You Can Do About It" (2003 Tarcher-Putnam).

LA Times

Arnold Schwarzenegger recently filed a lawsuit over the unauthorized use of his likeness on a plastic bobble-head doll.

It was not his first trip to court. Schwarzenegger also has sued an Ohio car dealership for using a "Terminator" photo. He's litigated against a greeting card company that used his picture. And it was his threat to bring suit that stopped the sale of Governator Ale.

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You would think, given all this, that Schwarzenegger would at least understand the importance of the courts for redressing wrongs. But perhaps not. Last week the governor signaled support at a California Chamber of Commerce breakfast for a November ballot initiative that would prevent lawsuits by environmental, consumer and civil rights groups against corporations.

Schwarzenegger told the chamber that he would work with the group to "get rid of shakedown lawsuits." The chamber's initiative would gut California's Unfair Business Competition Law, which was enacted in 1933 to prevent companies that cheat from continuing to profit. The law has been a principal tool of many public interest groups, which use it to stop dangerous corporate practices before the public is harmed.

Environmental groups sued oil companies under the law for polluting California's drinking water with MTBE and forced Big Oil to clean up its mess before anyone got hurt. When Safeway changed the date on old meat, consumer groups sued to force the supermarket chain to properly restock its shelves. Policyholder groups sued insurance companies in demanding fairer reimbursement for losses after the Northridge earthquake.

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The real question may be whether Arnold Schwarzenegger values the public's legal rights as much as his own. His stand on the initiative will be the litmus test of whether damage to the environment, public health and society is as important to him as misuse of his own image and name. If a plastic likeness of a public figure is important enough for a lawsuit, shouldn't pollution of our drinking water and air be?

[Lindacooks]

1. What an asshole

and typical Repuke. In other words, he denies others the things he takes advantage of himself. How this creepy hypocrite could be popular in California is beyond me.

[donhakman]

2. k

[zonmoy]

4. He won just like most other republicans win

manipulating the system to his own advantage.

[cap]

3. bring it on...

let the legislature stand up to Arnold and say, "You gotta go through me". Arnold can't run the government through ballot initiatives.

[Cleita]

5. I'm not surprised.

This man really has no respect for the law except when it suits him. He has a criminal mentality. I guess it's necessary if you are a RWger. His slippery ways have always been evident right from the beginning. There was the dubious way he entered this country. His immigration status is still murky.

His sexual harrassment of subordinate women is well documented. The way he runs his businesses is not all that kosher when it comes to complying with legalities and licenses. Now he's going to run our State into bigger deficits by handing the day to day running of the State to the same man who got us there in the first place, Pete Wilson. I despise this man.

[Cleita]

6. Dupe