“Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which promotes itself as a seller of clean music, deceived customers by stocking compact discs by the rock group Evanescence that contain the f-word, a lawsuit claims.” (“Wal-Mart sued over Evanescence lyrics”, AP/USA Today, Dec. 11). On behalf of Melanie and Trevin Skeens, residents of Washington County, Md., attorney Jon D. Pels of the Bethesda, Maryland firm of Pels, Anderson & Lee LLC is demanding up to $74,500 for each copy sold of the CD in Maryland, and is vowing to expand the litigation into other states. (Julie E. Greene, “County couple sues Wal-Mart over lyrics”, Hagerstown, Md. Herald-Mail, Dec. 10). A Google search reveals that three years ago attorney Pels filed an intended class action against Atlantic Records, AOL Time Warner and Slip-N-Slide Records on behalf of a different Maryland parent, saying obscenities were not edited out of a supposedly “clean” version of Trick Daddy’s Thugs Are Us. (Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, “Trick Daddy Accused By Maryland Mom Of Having Dirty ‘Clean’ LP”, VH1.com, Jun. 26, 2001). More: The Christian Science Monitor’s account is sympathetic to the claimants and their lawyer (Dec. 20).

Filed under: class actions, Maryland