subject: Group Legal Action Has Produced Important Changes in Advertising [print this page] Those bringing action against a business or government make themselves vulnerable to the possibility of libel suits, however. In Suffolk County, New York, in 1986, several individuals and civic organizations ran an ad in a local paper objecting to the plans of a real estate developer. They also produced a leaflet and a flier telling citizens to attend a hearing at the town meeting. When the town board rejected the developer's plans, the real estate concern brought suit against nine civic organizations and sixteen individuals. University of Denver law professor George Pring notes that such suits are not usually brought with the aim of winning damages. Rather, they are intended to deter such actions in the future.
Group Legal Action Has Produced Important Changes in Advertising
