The Boston Globe brings us word of a series of email exchanges in which a Harvard Business School professor (with whom I am acquainted) seems to have gone a bit overboard in invoking the treble-damages provision of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, chapter 93A.
UPDATE:
The professor has apologized for "what I said and how I said it."
I hope this professor loses his teaching post. He displayed such a disturbing pattern of remarkably terrible judgment that he should not be in any position to teach others in professional occupations. The crux of professionalism is good judgment. Aspiring professionals in all fields can learn that this professor is the opposite of professional — bullying, threatening, heavy-handed, taunting…. It may be unfair for so many to cast Harvard in a negative light because of this person’s actions, but HBS endorses him and his judgment by retaining him as a teacher. They must not. Moreover, I am angered that this kind of activity will set back the important work of consumer protections. This kind of nonsense adds fuel to the fire for those who think consumer protection laws need to be watered down. Shame on Ben Edelman — fire him now.