People Who Make a Difference
The 2016 Justice Served Awards honor each of these nominees for their commitment to a safer, more just America. Tell us which story moves you the most (see our nominating criteria below), and we’ll enter you into a drawing for a free subscription to Consumer Reports.
Hero Doctor Wouldn’t Back Down
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha continues to lead the fight for kids suffering from lead poisoning in Flint, Mich.
Today we all know that the ill-fated decision to switch the water supply in Flint, Mich., from Lake Huron to the Flint River to save a few bucks in the state budget caused dangerously high levels of lead in local drinking water. But if not for Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a passionate young pediatrician at Hurley Medical Center, the threat of lead poisoning – especially to the children of Flint – might never have been uncovered.
Dr. Hanna-Attisha, or Dr. Mona as she is affectionately known in Flint, knew something was wrong when she started seeing a marked increase in rashes and hair loss in her little patients. She and her team analyzed hundreds of hospital records and found that the toddlers of Flint were suffering from extremely high lead levels in their blood. Knowing that it was her moral and ethical duty to share her research with the public as soon as possible, Dr. Mona held a press conference. But instead of taking action, state and local officials spent a week denouncing her findings and attacking her character before finally admitting she was right. Two weeks later, Flint’s water supply was switched back to Lake Huron, and an entire nation soon learned about this scandal.
Sen. Al Franken Fights for Your Day in Court
Senator Al Franken is leading legislative efforts to ban mandatory arbitration.
Senator Al Franken (Minn.) has spent years trying to protect Americans from “forced arbitration” clauses, which he calls “an attack on the constitutional rights of all U.S. citizens.” These legal loopholes are increasingly found in consumer and employment contracts, mandating that disputes must be settled by binding arbitration rather than in court. Because these arbitrations are closed to the public and the arbitrators are often handpicked by the company, consumers and employees almost always lose and have no right of appeal. These clauses increasingly prohibit class action lawsuits as well, eliminating another powerful tool used by consumers to hold corporations accountable.
After a young woman working for a defense contractor was allegedly gang-raped by coworkers, Sen. Franken successfully added an amendment to an appropriations bill banning the U.S. military from doing business with companies that include mandatory arbitration clauses in employee contracts. Since then, Sen. Franken has authored legislation, including the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2015 to make forced arbitration a thing of the past. This proposed law states that “no pre-dispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable if it requires arbitration of an employment dispute, consumer dispute, antitrust dispute or civil rights dispute.”
Volkswagen Lied to Customers While Polluting the Environment
Dan Carder and his small band of researchers brought Volkswagen to its knees.
Dan Carder, director of the West Virginia University Center for Alternative Fuels Engines and Emissions, knows his field of study isn’t very exciting. His research team is often overlooked and underfunded. But when the Center was commissioned to test emissions from diesel cars, the results upended Volkswagen and eventually put Carder on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
It all started in 2012 when the Center received a $50,000 grant from the International Council on Clean Transportation for an on-road test of diesel emissions standards. Volkswagen boldly claimed its diesel cars were both environmentally friendly and fuel efficient, but test after test showed that the numbers didn’t match up. In fact, Volkswagen diesels were emitting up to 35 times the safe amount of nitrous oxide gases. Eventually the company fessed up that more than 11 million vehicles were equipped with software designed to cheat on emissions tests. Since then, Volkswagen has recalled 700,000 vehicles in the United States alone and must spend more than $15 billion in settlement claims to buy back or repair the affected vehicles.
Mother Who Lost Daughter to Cyberbullying Speaks Out for Compassion
Tina Meier with pictures of her daughter Megan.
Life was looking up for Megan Meier after years spent struggling with depression and attention deficit disorder. She had just started eighth grade at a new school, had joined the volleyball team and would have her braces off soon. She also began chatting online with a boy named Josh Evans, who wanted to be her friend. Weeks later he turned on her, and soon hundreds of cruel messages about Megan were posted on a bulletin. Josh’s last message said that everyone hated Megan and that the world would be better off without her. That night Megan committed suicide. Six weeks after Megan died, her mother Tina learned that Josh never existed. His account was set up by a neighbor on their block and her daughter, a former friend of Megan’s.
Tina Meier created the Megan Meier Foundation to fight for her daughter’s legacy. The Foundation’s mission is to “Promote awareness, education, and positive change in response to issues surrounding bullying, cyberbullying and suicide.” Today Tina travels around the country, speaking to students, educators, administrators, parents, counselors, law enforcement officers and other professionals about the dangers of cyberbullying. Tina hopes that she can empower young people to celebrate individuality and accept others in order to make a kinder and safer world.
Justice Served Awards Nominating Criteria
The Justice Served Awards celebrate the stories of injured people and their families who decide to make a difference in protecting the health, safety and legal rights of others. Once a year, we ask our readers to read these remarkable stories and tell us which one touches them most, and why. Winners are chosen based on their efforts to:
- Uncover negligence or other irresponsible behavior by organizations that put their interests ahead of the public interest;
- Prompt government action by shedding new light on defective products, services or other practices;
- Trigger manufacturing and quality assurance practices that lead to safer products and services; and
- Increase public awareness that helps prevent additional injuries and protect an individual’s right to civil justice in a court of law.
This article appeared in our August 2016 "You Should Know" e-newsletter.