October 20, 2005
House Passes Bill Banning "Cheeseburger Lawsuits"
As reported by the Washington Times, the House of Representatives passed last week a bill banning lawsuits against food makers, sellers and trade associations for injuries related to weight gain, obesity or health conditions related to obesity. The nicknamed "Cheeseburger Bill" is the second bill Congress has tried to pass to ban obesity lawsuits; a similar bill stalled in the Senate last March. The Cheeseburger Bill, expected to be before the Senate next year, protects the food industry from an array of obesity-related lawsuits but does not ban lawsuits for violations of express warranties or violations of state or federal law that result in excessive calorie consumption.
A lawsuit pending in federal court in New York, in which two overweight teenagers claim that McDonald's violated New York's Consumer Protection Act through deceptive marketing practices, falls under the second exception of the Cheeseburger Bill. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed a dismissal of the case and held that New York law did not require plaintiffs to show a link between their health problems and McDonald's food. The Court ruled that plaintiffs were only required to show that deceptive advertising was misleading and that plaintiffs suffered injuries as a result.
Posted by franchiselawblog at October 20, 2005 04:05 PM