We all know that the U.S. is the most litigious society in the world -- that there are more lawyers involved in more far-fetched lawsuits and more people working late into the night figuring out how to win more settlement cash than in any time in any place in history.
But did you know that litigation fever has stretched beyond Court TV to lawsuits in which corporations take on democratically elected governments in closed trade tribunals? Did you know, for example, that last October, Mexico paid over $16 million to an American landfill company on the grounds that the local Mexican government had "expropriated the company's investment" by turning the area into an ecological zone in order to protect its citizens from toxic pollutants?
Welcome to Chapter 11, an obscure provision of North American Free Trade Agreement and the subject of the latest Bill Moyers/Sherry Jones documentary, "Trading Democracy." In the one-hour investigation to be aired on most PBS stations the evening of Feb. 5, Moyers' team lays out what may very well be the pinnacle of global corporate malfeasance.
more: http://www.alternet.org/print.html?StoryID=12233