We just couldn’t resist: today marks the filing of the first post-Oprah lawsuit against admitted liar and generally detestable person Lance Armstrong.

The issue at hand isn’t the fact that Lance cheated, ruined honest people with fake libel charges, or promoted a bunch of big brands after winning while on dope. No, it’s all about his books, see?

The two plaintiffs in the class-action complaint say that they bought Lance’s inspirational memoirs because they believed his story about a triumphant, dope-and-cancer-free return to the Tour de France. Upon discovering that the story was not exactly true, they felt “duped, cheated and betrayed” and decided to take his sorry ass to court for fraud. The suit accuses Lance and his publishers, Penguin and Random House, of committing acts of “false advertising” by selling the books as works of non-fiction.

Excuse us while we enjoy a guilt-free laugh.

The most interesting part of this story (to us) is the fact that one of the men filing the suit is “Rob Stutzman, a public relations executive who served as a deputy chief of staff for former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger“. He would certainly know a good bit about famous liars, wouldn’t he?

So will this suit go nowhere like the one against Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson, who fabricated portions of his books? Or will it lead to a settlement like the case filed against admitted fabulist James Frey? And what do we think about the fact that a veteran PR professional started it?

We’ll begin this story with a disclaimer: Hearst is a brand rightfully known for producing great products including a large portion of this country’s best magazines. Based on Mediabistro’s “Cubes” tour of the Hearst offices, we’d say the company also treats its employees well.

That said, Hearst has a huge PR problem on its hands in the form of a big-news lawsuit—and its lawyers have begun to prepare by contacting affected parties in order to solicit positive testimony. We’re not quite sure that will work.

The story: When Diana Wang applied for an internship at Harper’s Bazaar, her only real goal was to make her mark on the fashion industry. She knew that it wouldn’t amount to a full-time job (it was her seventh unpaid internship), and she told New York Magazine of saving every penny in order to afford the opportunity to work as “head accessories intern” at Bazaar.

The work was considerable: Wang supervised eight other interns, and she claims that editors at the magazine told her that her internship “should be considered a real job.”

Unfortunately, the internship did not lead to the fashion gig she craved—or any other gig. Her supervisor was bold enough to tell her that she wasn’t ready for a job in fashion and that she should consider another internship. With that, she started considering her options. Given the fact that she worked a full-time schedule and drew no discernible benefits from the internship, Wang decided to file a lawsuit claiming that the internship was actually an unpaid job—and 3,000 other former interns joined her.

Read more

This afternoon, Buzzfeed Shift brings news of a pending discrimination lawsuit against French makeup giant Sisley Cosmetics that could turn out to be a very big deal.

In short, an employee returned from maternity leave to face questions about her future reproductive plans from managers who strongly implied that a second child “wouldn’t be good for her job” and all but threatened to make her “redundant” by eliminating her position. She also claims that her higher-ups increased her workload and that a less-than-sympathetic HR rep effectively told her “my hands are tied”. Six months after returning from a second maternity leave, she lost her job.

We don’t have all the details in this case, but the narrative as we know it paints Sisley as a company that views pregnant employees and mothers as liabilities. Perhaps more troubling is the fact that discrimination lawsuits are nothing new for this old-school Parisian brand: In 2011, a black employee who worked for the company’s Saks Fifth Avenue counter filed suit after claiming that her manager repeatedly used racial slurs when addressing her and complained about a lack of “blonde” sales reps. A third employee sued in 2009 after a boss forbid her from sitting down behind the cosmetics counter despite the fact that she’d just gone through a spinal surgery that limited her range of movement. Only the last case has been resolved.

Read more

Looks like Elmo should be back to work soon after all: Only a day after beginning procedures to charge puppeteer Kevin Clash with having improper relations with a minor, his accuser has recanted and agreed to abandon the allegations altogether.

According to the law firm that planned to represent the man (who shall remain unnamed), “he wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship. He will have no further comment on the matter.”

Of course Clash expressed relief through a spokesman, and Sesame Workshop responded in turn, stating, “We are pleased that this matter has been brought to a close, and we are happy that Kevin can move on from this unfortunate episode”. It would seem that the organization’s reported investigation into the matter was not simply an attempt to “discredit” the accuser after all.

Sometimes the threat of a lawsuit is just that–and nothing more.

In news that may lead to a PR hiring blitz, an Australian court has ruled that everything posted on a company’s Facebook page qualifies as an advertisement and may be viewed as such in the eyes of the law.

The ruling implies that Facebook PR is no longer a risk-free venture: Your company may be held legally responsible for everything posted on your page, and that includes whatever false, misleading or otherwise offensive comments your followers happen to feel like posting. In other words: yikes.

And don’t start thinking that this ruling will only apply Down Under: The Advertising Standards Board has declared that companies may be held liable for third-party content on their Facebook pages just as if it had been penned by their own agency copywriters. Libel laws are viral, and web pages are visible all over the world. Experts expect similar rulings to follow.

Read more