From Deseret News archives:
House's 'burger bill' takes bite out of suits
Obese litigants barred from suing fast-food restaurants
"Unfortunately, the food industry has been targeted by a variety of unfounded legal claims which allege businesses should pay monetary damages and be subject to equitable remedies based on novel legal theories of liability for the over-consumption of its legal products," said Rep. Chris Cannon , R-Utah and a co-sponsor of the legislation.
The Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act, the so-called "burger bill," is patterned after another bill, scheduled to be debated today, that would prevent lawsuits against gun manufacturers for the unlawful use of their legal products. It is also part of a package of tort reform bills before Congress.
The idea that America's love affair with fast food would subject food providers to lawsuits because people get fat rankles Cannon.
"Obesity is a problem in America, but it is not evident that the availability of high fat food or restaurants is the sole cause," Cannon said. "A number of studies have shown that a lack of physical activity — not exercising — has contributed to the rise of obesity and not caloric intake."
The Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee last year explored the threat facing the food industry and its workers from frivolous litigation, as well as the threat to personal responsibility posed by the proliferation of such litigation, Cannon said.
Twenty-one states have now enacted similar legislation.
"Without a complete ban on these frivolous lawsuits rogue trial lawyers will forum shop until they find the state and the district that gets them their exorbitant payday that they seek," Cannon said Wednesday during a statement on the House floor.
He also quoted John Banzhaf, an attorney who testified last year against this bill, who said, "Somewhere there is going to be a judge and jury that will buy this, and once we get the first verdict, as we did with tobacco, it will open the floodgates."
"It is unlikely that lawsuits against food establishments over their menus will make us healthier," Cannon said. "Such lawsuits will threaten thousands of jobs. More importantly, such lawsuits send the wrong message regarding personal choices and responsibility. Do we want our kids growing up believing it is always someone else's fault?"
E-mail: spang@desnews.com
