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RadioShack's new headquarters complex rises on the edge of downtown.

A few days after the class action was certified in June, RadioShack spokeswoman Kay Jackson told The Dallas Morning News that management was pleased the lawsuit had been certified as a class action so "these suits can be disposed of in an appropriate manner. We think these claims are without merit.''

Touhy scratched his head when he saw Jackson's comments in the Dallas paper. Not long after the quote appeared, attorneys for the company went back to court in Illinois, he said, asking permission to appeal the opinion the spokeswoman found so pleasing.

Jackson was not available for comment, but Hill said her comments were not inconsistent with the company's appeal. "We believe that getting that ruling would allow us to get the issue of class certification reviewed" by an appellate court, he said.

News of the judge's ruling also made its way to RadioShackSucks. The site, founded in 1998, was taken over by former RadioShack dealer Brad Jones in 2001. Jones continues to run the site through a company called RSS Fulfillment.

Jones said that he had been operating a RadioShack store in London, Ky., for more than 10 years when "RadioShack put a company-owned store in our town of 6,000 ... and proceeded to do everything in their power to squash me out of existence. When they could not run me out of business legitimately, they terminated my 17-year contract." Jones sued and later settled for what he described as a "very small amount primarily due to the mounting legal expense." He renamed his business and continues to operate "Radio World" with the slogan "Why settle for a shack ... when you can have the world."

Jones said his initial visits to RadioShackSucks were motivated by his anger toward what the company had done to his business. Eventually, though, he saw that the site "had a much deeper meaning and purpose than that of a mere protest site. ... It was a community of people, most of whom were employees or ex-employees of RadioShack, who had nowhere else to vent their frustrations -- people who had [an] audience nowhere else because the established corporate communications structure of RadioShack had let them down."

William Mocahbee, a friend who has helped Jones with the design of the site, said he volunteered his time after seeing what RadioShack did to his friend. "He gave 16 years of his life to this company. I watched this man's life be completely turned upside down,'' he said. "When a big company is coming at you with both barrels, what can you do? All I see is one big corporation with a big sledge hammer trying to squash a little ant."

RadioShackSucks contains a mix of juvenile humor, consumer complaints, and comments pro and con. A cartoon character meanders across the top of the page, pulls down his pants, and then urinates on a crossed-out RadioShack trademark symbol. Visitors are invited to "relieve a little stress" by distorting CEO and chairman Len Roberts' picture with a few clicks and drags. Under a "RadioShack Horror Stories" caption, employees freely vent about obnoxious customers and managers. The site also peddles what it calls "SuckMan gear" -- t-shirts and hats featuring a money-sucking character based loosely on the company symbol. Proceeds from the sale of the merchandise, according to the site's attorney, pay for its upkeep and operation. Several messages warn users the site is constantly being monitored by RadioShack officials. And it's not uncommon to see an occasional response to criticisms from RadioShack's administration or Roberts himself.

The company apparently was content to merely monitor the site until shortly after the federal overtime lawsuit was certified as class action -- news that was broadcast on the site and tied to links letting visitors find out how they could "opt-in" and join the litigation.

Shortly after the news of the lawsuit's certification appeared on the web site, the company filed a lawsuit in Tarrant County against RadioShackSucks and two former Lakeland, Fla., employees named James Fix and Jonathan Wolf that had the effect -- intentional or not -- of temporarily shutting down the site.

The company claimed that the site promoted "business disparagement, libel, and fraudulent conduct against RadioShack" and persuaded a judge to issue a temporary restraining order stopping the web site from posting messages that RadioShack found objectionable. The order not only barred the site from posting comments that infringed upon RadioShack's business operations -- such as posts that the company claimed contained fraud schemes, trade secrets, and proprietary computer software information -- but also forbade posting of any comments that would "disparage or defame RadioShack or its employees."

Neither Fix nor Wolf could be reached for comment for this story. Wolf, according to court records, has enrolled in the military. Fix did not return calls to his cell phone.

The lawsuit claims that the pair, using the pseudonyms Shackmaster and Royalwolf, posted a series of messages that were causing RadioShack "irreparable injuries" that "cannot be calculated." In one example cited by the company, Shackmaster advised a colleague on how to "pocket" the bulk of a $20 sale by voiding a ticket after a customer leaves and creating a bogus replacement. In another post, Shackmaster provides information on how to manipulate the cash drawer so any shortages will appear "the next day for someone else and you won't be blamed." Shackmaster also boasted about pirating RadioShack software that contained settings and passwords used by the corporation. And after Wolf was fired in April, there was a post from Royalwolf asking site users to place prank calls to the store where he worked and referring to his former manager as "stupid, fat, and psychotic." NEXT »

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