Careful on behalf of our readers? Not us, says Entrepreneur

It's hard to take seriously a $178 million suit readers who claim that they were guided in their investments by a list published in a magazine. But that's precisely what's happening in the U.S.

According to a posting on MediaBistro's Fishbowl NY, Entrepreneur Magazine has filed a motion in federal court in New York seeking to dismiss a case filed by 87 readers sho accuse the magazine of gross negligence in publishing its annual Hot 100 list and including Agape World, a company which soon turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.

Agape's CEO, Nicholas Cosmo, was later arrested and, their money lost, the readers are suing Entrepreneur Media.

The magazine is asking for a dismissal based on two arguments: that the Hot 100 was simply informative material, never to be taken as an investment recommendation; and that, under New York law, the magazine owes no "duty of care" to its readers. The former seems to be right; the latter seems to be lame and depressing. As Folio magazine's Dylan Stableford, who has been covering this case from the beginning, pointed out:

"It's probably all legaleze, but it's awfully weird for a publisher to argue it isn't obligated to care about its readers."