Bad news for Michael Moore: scummy trial lawyers are suing Krispy Kreme for bad management.
This is another sign of moral decay. (As opposed to tooth decay, to be sure.) If the management was imprudent in their stewardship of the company, they will be punished by declining sales and, ultimately, by losing their jobs. That's a much more effective way to handle imprudence than involving Federal courts.
According to the story, it does not appear that the management was guilty of anything other than misjudging a market trend. Such things happen every day. They did not "cook the books," or steal company money for their personal use, or trade stock based on "insider information," or any other crime. They just didn't do a good job calibrating their business strategy to the low-carb diet fad.
That might be dumb, but is it wrong? Is it even illegal? Don't we all believe that "you can't legislate morality"? Apparently it's possible to litigate morality, or at least scummy trial lawyers think they should, for a decent cut of the settlement money.
Now that Tim Hortons is coming to Southern New England, we're going to have a three-way doughnut war.
Speaking of martial metaphors, you can just picture me holding up that KK doughnut over my head like Charlton Heston with a rifle, saying, "from my cold, dead hands!"
This is right up there with the Wall Street analysts complaining that Costco is spending too much on benefits for its emplyees. They should, instead, cut benefits so more can be paid to the shareholders!
It's rather silly. Low-carb craze isn't good for donut shops? Amazing! I would never have guessed that!
As far as Costco's benefits go... many people think that's why they make so much money - low turnover. They make more money per square foot than Sam's Club - even though Sam's Club gives their employees next to nothing. There is an order of magnitude difference in turnover rates.
wait. does this mean if i invest and lose money the old fashioned way, i can sue to re-coup my loses? COOL! where do i sign up?
Smockmomma, if KK needs to pay out fines, that will decrease their dividends and cause their stock price to drop.
Like I said, this is just the criminalization of poor performance, and I don't see how that's good for society.
+J.M.J+
Sooooo...why don't they just invent a lo-carb donut?
I'm on a controlled-carb diet right now, and there are lots and lots of lo-carb breadstuffs on the market right now: breads, rolls, pastas, cakes, cookies, brownies, bagels, pancake/waffle mixes, tortillas. Granted, some are better than others - the pastas leave something to be desired, and the bagels are not as lo-carb as some of the other foods. But some are really tasty!
I don't see why KK can't come up with *something*, even if its just cookies or brownies, for lo-carb customers.
However, last I heard a poll showed that only 6% of Americans are on a lo-carb diet. Don't know how accurate the poll is, but I find it hard to believe that we lo-carbers are really such a powerful market force that they are really hurting KK, or the orange juice manufacturers, or any other such groups who are trying to scapegoat us for their sales dropping. For instance, maybe if the orange juice companies didn't charge so much for orange juice they would sell more! And maybe KK's problems are also unrelated to lo-carb dieters.
At any rate, I agree that the lawyers shouldn't get involved in this....
In Jesu et Maria,
The low-carb trend is really something the shareholders should have protected themselves against, by selling their stock in KK.
OTOH, some of the other issues cited in the news story are genuine weaknesses in the company's decisions: the wholesale-vs-retail issue, for example. But attempting to turn normal business setbacks into breaches of fiduciary duty is hardly credible.
hey, mr. chonak, "fiduciary duty" is a cool phrase. i don't really know what it means and i don't really want to look it up, but boy it sounds totally coolmoe!
I think "fiduciary duty" is the obligation to look out for the interests of somebody who entrusts you with their assets. For example, if you're the executor of an estate, you have the obligation to preserve the assets until they're turned over to the heirs.