YOU DESERVE A BREAK TODAY
by Randy Cassingham


Caesar Barber, 56, of New York City is 5-foot-10 and 270 pounds. He
says he is obese as a result of eating burgers, chicken and other fast
food from various national restaurant chains four to five times per
week. He continued chowing down the high-fat fare even after he had a
heart attack. He has had a second, and is a diabetic. "They never
explained to me what I was eating," Barber complains, ignoring the irony
of not looking at what he stuffed into his mouth.

For years, fast-food companies have had nutritional information,
including fat content, available to consumers who ask. Those too
embarrassed to ask can check the companies' web sites. Apparently,
Barber never bothered to do that. Should the restaurants be liable for
his failure to utilize those resources to learn what he was eating?
Absolutely, says Barber's lawyer, Samuel Hirsch. "It's a question of
informing the consumers," he says. The restaurants have an
"obligation"
to warn their customers that eating their food can be "dangerous".

Uh oh -- Barber has a lawyer? But of course: Barber is obese, suffered
heart attacks and got diabetes certainly not because of any action he is
responsible for, but rather because of the dastardly, underhanded,
profit-seeking actions of McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and KFC
(who "profited enormously," lawyer Hirsch says.) Barber filed a lawsuit
against the restaurant chains in the New York State Supreme Court
seeking unspecified damages (read "money to go -- and Super Size it,
please!")
The suit was filed not just for himself, but -- thanks to class action
status -- for any and all other New Yorkers who were obese and suffering
health problem after pounding down fast food.

The suit claims that the restaurants did not "properly disclose" their
food ingredients nor the "risks" of eating junk food day after
day after day.
They sold their high-fat, high- sodium, high-sugar, high-cholesterol menu
items even though studies show a link between overeating such food
and obesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension, strokes, cancer and
diabetes. Barber was shocked (SHOCKED!) to discover that it wasn't healthy
to eat such food in the quantities he consumed. "To win his suit he has to
convince a jury or a judge that people are too stupid to feed themselves
or the children," says John Doyle of the Center for Consumer Freedom, a
restaurant trade group. "If people are so stupid, should they be allowed
to vote or go to work in the morning?"

And if Barber did win, would Americans be allowed to choose what to
have for lunch, or would they have to sign a release before ordering?
Barber's lawsuit "has a great deal of potential," said Prof. John
Banzhaf III
of the George Washington University Law School after it was filed, even
though "we know from the tobacco litigation that initial suits have real
difficulties because the public has real problems accepting new ideas
and new concepts." But by filing lawsuit after lawsuit, juries finally came
around and the tobacco companies had to pay. Banzhaf said he would
act as an advisor to Barber. Perhaps he would argue that adding salt was
similar to the tobacco companies adding nicotine to help addict smokers?

Barber's case drew others in, despite it already getting class-action status.
A similar suit was filed in federal court by group that included a 400-pound
15-year-old boy who ate at McDonald's every day. It didn't take long for that
case to be thrown out. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Sweet ruled that
"legal consequences should not attach to the consumption of hamburgers
and other fast-food fare unless consumers are unaware of the dangers of
eating such food." Ummmmm... doesn't that leave the question open? The
suit can be filed again if it is amended to address the judge's objections.
How likely is that to happen? "They are a talented and determined group
of attorneys not to be underestimated," said New York attorney Thomas
Bezanson, who proclaimed himself "delighted" at Judge Sweet's ruling
"because it is so utterly correct." So will there be more such McCases?
"You can be sure of it," he says.

SOURCES: 1) "Whopper of a Lawsuit -- Fast-Food Chains Blamed for
Obesity, Illnesses", ABC News.com, 26 July 2002
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect3.pl?17a

"Obesity Suit Against McDonald's Dismissed", Reuters, 22 January
2002
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect3.pl?17b

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS CASE: 1)
"Let Them Eat Cake", Health Law Perspectives (publication of the
University of Houston Health Law & Policy Institute), 30 August 2002
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect3.pl?17c


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