From burned trousers to plus size trousers, we have seen an array of food based litigation concerning the fast food industry.
The landmark case in food based litigation against McDonald’s occurred in 1994 when Stella Liebecks suffered 3rd degree burns and a seven day hospital stay after being burned with the fast food chain’s coffee. Attorneys for McDonald’s refused any settlement offers and then the jury found them liable for 2.7M in punitive damages alone. On appeal, the judge reduced the amount of punitives to 480k.
Fast forward to 2002 when Caesar Barber filed a class action law suit in New York against McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, and Kentucky Fried Chicken- the first of its kind. He claimed eating regularly at the restaurants made him obese. He also asserted that the failure of these establishments to warn him of health risks associated with regular consumption caused him to suffer 2 heart attacks and diabetes. His attorney, Samuel Hirsch, discontinued the litigation in 2003 because he thought he had a much better chance at a suit involving children.
Those children were Jazlyn Bradley and Ashley Pelman. At 19 years old, Jazlyn weighed 270 pounds at 5-foot-7. Ashley, at only 14 years of age weighed 170 pounds at 4-foot-10.
In August 2003, a suit filed by Mr. Hirsch on behalf of the girls’ parents claimed that McDonald’s and two of its restaurants failed to disclose clearly and conspicuously the ingredients and effects of its food, much of which is high in fat, salt, sugar and cholesterol.
Mr. Hirsch argued that McDonald’s should therefore be held accountable for the girls’ obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol.
Jazyln stated that her regular diet consisted of a McMuffin for breakfast and a Big Mac meal for dinner while Ashley regularly consumed Happy Meals.
Bradley’s father, Israel, said he never saw anything in the Bronx restaurants that informed him of the food’s ingredients. “I always believed McDonald’s was healthy for my children,” he said in an affidavit.
Samuel Hirsch, the lawyer bringing the case, called McDonald’s food “physically or psychologically addictive.” Hirsch accused the company of deliberately withholding information and targeting children. The effects of its food on people’s health were “a very insipid, toxic kind of thing,” Hirsch said.
This law suit was eventually dismissed. The court held that the plaintiffs “failed to allege both that McDonald’s caused the plaintiffs’ injuries or that McDonald’s representations to the public were deceptive.”
In a well written Arizona Law Review article by Alysse Meislik, she states it is difficult to predict whether members of the food industry will one day face the same devastation as the tobacco industry with a large verdict in an obesity lawsuit. The tobacco and food litigation share strikingly similar histories: both suits feature plaintiffs who voluntarily used the products, and the methods of attracting consumers are almost the same. After the expansion of tort liability in the tobacco suits, similar trends among the two industries could foreshadow what may later ensue in obesity litigation.
To view the articles reviewed and utilized for this posting, please see CNNMoney and the Arizona Law Review.
Please check back tomorrow for the continuation of this topic discussing the Cheeseburger Bill.
I have absolutely no time for McDonalds and the like and never patronize such restaurants, but to blame them for parents’ laziness in making meals for their children or bothering to research the kind of food they serve is outrageous. Parents are responsible for their children’s being fat, not McDonalds and the like. As in cigarettes and booze, no one holds you down and makes you smoke, drink or ram fast food down your throat, but it’s easier to blame someone else, especially if you’ll get some money out of it. It’s worse in the UK in that they have a health service so not only do lazy parents get to blame someone else for not raising their children properly, the tax-payer will pick up the tab for the health problems.
Sooo, um. This might be a sensitive subject and everything, but do some freaking jogging! Eat at home! When you become morbidly obese, don’t blame the food; blame yourself for eating it. People smoke because they choose too. They drink because they choose too. If it’s emotional issues then see a therapist or take a bath or punch a wall or something, and none cost a dollar fifty. I blame every parent, teen, and emotionally immature adult who can’t muster up the effort to run a mile.
It’s an idiotic question. In fact, I don’t even need to prove my point. It’s like video game controversy. There is more proof of Atlantis, Bigfoot, The Kraken, and The Flying Spaghetti Monster (Not combined.) then this ridiculous argument.
This is coming from a mildly overweight 13 year old, but I can jog 3 miles without blaming my chicken nuggets.