Court revives 'McDonalds made us fat' lawsuit 26/01/2005 - 07:00:47
A New York court revived part of a class-action lawsuit blaming fast-food chain McDonald’s for making people fat, reinstating claims relating to deceptive advertising.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals said yesterday that a lower court judge erred when he dismissed parts of the lawsuit brought on behalf of two New York children.
US District Judge Robert Sweet dismissed the lawsuit in 2003 because he said it failed to link the children’s alleged health problems directly to McDonald’s products. The panel upheld other parts of the dismissal.
But appeal court judges said New York’s general business law required a plaintiff to show only that deceptive advertising was misleading and that the plaintiff was injured as a result. A lower court judge had twice thrown out the action.
In a statement, Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald’s Corporation said: “Common sense tells you this particular case makes no sense”, adding the ruling “simply delays the inevitable conclusion that this case is without merit”.
The lawsuit claims tens of thousands of children suffered obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and other health problems after being misled about McDonald’s products.
In an earlier ruling, Judge Sweet said consumers could not blame McDonald’s if they chose to eat at its restaurants.
“If a person knows or should know that eating copious orders of supersized McDonald’s products is unhealthy and may result in weight gain,” Sweet wrote, “It is not the place of the law to protect them from their own excesses.”
