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Yep, that's right. The attorney who has been representing 1-800-GET-THIN has lawyered up and filed his own class action against the Los Angeles Times.
Attorney Robert Silverman has filed and lost a few suits against the Times for writing unfavorable stories about the doctors and advertising wizards behind those catchy 1-800-GET-THIN billboards and radio jingles. Some of those stories included the details about how some patients died after undergoing the lap-band procedure.
But now Silverman has his own attorney and class action suit. If you come across one of the billboards of this lawyers' lawyer on the 710 or other freeways around Los Angeles, you might think that his class action had something to do with wiretapping. After all these billboards read:
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT
ILLEGALLY WIRE-TAPPED
BY THE LA TIMES
CALL: 619-238-1333
ATTORNEY AT LAW JEFFREY KRINSK
But the lawsuit doesn't allege that the Times wiretapped anyone. Instead, it claims that when Times columnist Michael Hiltzik interviewed Silverman, he was secretly recording those telephone conversations (which is illegal without consent). Times spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan said in a statement that those claims are baseless and Hiltzik did not record any conversations with Silverman.
"It is just another baseless lawsuit filed by the people behind the 1-800-GET-THIN marketing campaign in an attempt to deter further reporting by The Times," Sullivan said. "Numerous related lawsuits that they filed against The Times and its employees have been thrown out of court. We are confident that this latest, equally meritless lawsuit also will be thrown out."
