July/August 1998 Issue

Tall Toy Stories

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Toys “R” Us sells toy guns, police car models, and fake badges, but the chain’s traffic in make-believe apparently extends to real-life law as well. More than a year after retrieving her son from the back office of a San Francisco Toys “R” Us store—after a security guard caught him carrying around a Yak Bak toy in his pocket—Margaret Chant received a letter containing a fake civil complaint. “You may stop this suit from being filed by making payment according to the terms of the demand letter enclosed,” it warned. The demand letter asked for $365 in civil damages. Unable to come up with the money, Chant contacted Berkeley, Calif., attorney Larry Hildes.

“The first word out of my mouth was ‘scam,'” Hildes says. He says the letter, sent by Florida attorney James R. Palmer, who represented Loss Prevention Specialists (LPS), a Florida collections firm contracted by Toys “R” Us, contained several improprieties. The most obvious: California law allows retailers to collect damages only if a person leaves the premises with merchandise.

So why did Chant receive a letter? “We’re under contract to send a letter to everyone we get a report on,” says LPS president Read Hayes. Rebecca Caruso, a Toys “R” Us spokeswoman, claims that the chain has a right to seek such damages.

Hildes has filed a lawsuit against LPS, Palmer, and Toys “R” Us. “[LPS] has no ability to bring lawsuits except in Florida,” says Hildes. “Fifty percent of the people who get these letters pay, so [LPS is] just playing the percentages.”

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“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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