February 24, 2004

Legislation Will Put Personal Injury Lawyers on a Diet

By: Jeff Longstreth

Personal injury lawyers apparently have an insatiable appetite for multi-million-dollar settlements and awards. So, where else would they turn for their next feed but the fast food industry? That’s why, fresh from consuming mass quantities of the tobacco industry’s money, they have shifted to attack “Big Food” – which they allege is forcing people to eat too much. In August 2002, the parents of two obese girls sued McDonald’s claiming the restaurant failed to clearly disclose the ingredients and the effects of the food.

Thankfully, Ohio Legislators are trying to put the personal injury lawyers on a diet with two bills that are moving through the Statehouse. H.B. 350 and S. B. 161 would make any Ohio manufacturer or supplier of food and non-alcoholic beverages exempt from personal injury lawyer greed. The House Civil and Commercial Law Committee recently approved the House version, which Chairman Bill Seitz said is designed to protect companies from “consumers' overindulgent behavior”. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.

Laws passed by our elected representatives have traditionally been the primary way we, as a nation, set social policy. This approach, engraved into the Constitution, has brought Ohio and the U.S. a long way in terms of social justice and consumer safety. Increasingly, however, personal injury lawyers have moved to convert the courts into quasi-legislatures as a means to over-ride the authority of legislators and regulators.

But, now, with lawsuits filed on behalf of obese individuals, personal injury lawyers are attempting to override the legislative process and usurp the regulators. Lawyers maintain that fast and packaged food companies – such as McDonald’s, Burger King and Kraft – have failed to warn consumers that their products can make them fat. Although this possibility should be no secret, calling for self-restraint rather than lawsuits, the attorneys see it as a new front in a struggle that they plan to take from industry to industry.

The strategy is clear and overt. A full-court press on Big Tobacco ended in a $246 billion settlement in 1998. Soon after that, personal injury lawyers, led by John Banzhaf, a “legal activism” professor at GeorgeWashingtonUniversity, gathered to plot their next move. With obesity being one of this country’s greatest health challenges, the answer was obvious: blame McDonald’s, Burger King and Kraft.

As a part of their strategy, personal injury lawyers are trying to prove that fast food is “addictive,” therefore exonerating the “over-eater” from personal responsibility. They say that sugar and fat produce “chemical changes” in the body that compel hapless individuals to consume “super-sized” proportions.

Although they have yet to win a major obesity case, it appears almost inevitable that somehow, some way, the personal injury lawyers will have their victory in court  never mind that the factual link between the rise in obesity and the consumption of fast food products is weak at best. In fact, recent studies have shown that the increasingly sedentary lifestyle of most Americans and the ready availability of all types of food may be more instrumental in weight gain than the consumption of burgers and snacks.

If the personal injury lawyers succeed in imposing legislation by litigation on the food industry – reaping a bounty in fees on the way – they will almost certainly look for other fish to fry. Ultimately, the lawmaking role of our State Legislature may be put aside, while car companies are sued by drivers who drive too fast and broadcast networks are taken to court by viewers who watch too much television. After all, adrenaline and reality TV can be addictive too. Research will no doubt show they change the body chemistry in mysterious ways.

Until companies like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Kraft are protected with legislation like H.B. 350 and S.B. 161, personal injury lawyers will find a way to keep the gravy train rolling - at the expense of the rest of us. In the meantime, the food fights are likely to continue.

Jeff Longstreth is the Executive Director of Ohio Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. Ohio Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (OCALA) is a non-profit, grassroots public education organization that represents over 6000 Ohio citizens. As Ohio’s “Watchdog for Justice,” OCALA’s mission is to inform the public about the cost of lawsuit abuse and to help ensure the legal system is used for justice, not greed. Their website is