Can you handle not knowing the truth?

Posted by Marc Hodak on June 6, 2008 under Scandal | Comments are off for this article

The headline pops, and I’m trying to evaluate this statement well below the lede:

“None of the parties who entered into the settlement agreement has acknowledged any liability or wrongdoing and each made their contribution solely to facilitate a settlement,” Cablevision senior vice president Charles Schueler told Reuters.

Absent any additional information, the average reader of an article titled “Settlement reached in Cablevision lawsuit” would assume that this statement is corporate b.s. Since this was an options backdating case, it would be presumed that the participants were all guilty, and that they deserved to be punished.

On the other hand, few if any backdating cases resulted in shareholder harm. And the law firm prosecuting this case is as known as Milberg Weiss for going after high-profile corporate cases, often after the same defendants, where the distinction between legitimate and nuisance lawsuits is very fuzzy.

Would a company pay out $34 million to make a high-profile lawsuit go away and eliminate the risk of a jury trial? Could happen. The point is, we don’t know, but most of the readers of this headline would profess to have a certain knowledge.