A recent Letter to the Editor of The Joplin (MO) Globe bears repeating, because as it points out the mainstream media are too readily duped into repeating unsubstantiated myths about the alleged antics of personal liability attorneys and their clients.

"The Globe editors should be ashamed of themselves," writes Joplin resident Bill Fleischaker, for "publishing a total falsehood in the December 17 [2007] editorial, 'Jury Awards Beg for Common Sense.'"

Fleischaker fights back at the newspaper for giving credence to the urban myth of a lawsuit that resulted after a driver of a motor home put the vehicle on cruise control and got up from the driver's seat.  "No such incident has ever been found to have occured and no such lawsuit has ever been located," he wrote.

To their belated credit, at least the Globe editors published Fleischaker's comments.