A term coined by U.S.
District Judge Robert Sweet, with regards to the recent child
obesity suit brought against the
McDonalds corporation. The full quote:
"This case could spawn all sorts of 'McLawsuits' against all types of restaurants."
The details of the
class action suit? A group of
New York City children aged 15 and under (quote
Yahoo! News: "... including a 14-year old girl who is 4' 10" and 170 pounds ...") gained a whole lot of weight. Their parents sued, on the basis that
Bronx area McDonalds restaurants had sold the children hamburgers and french fries, which made them obese.
No previous fast food obesity case had made it this far in the United States federal courts; two had been dropped and one more is still pending. This case is a little reminiscent of Big Tobacco cases, but not quite. Differences?
- The plaintiffs won in the Big Tobacco cases.
- Hamburgers are not addictive. French fries are questionable.
- Nobody died.
- This case is pretty dumb.
The
SNL sketch on this made a nice parody of this ridiculous case, which will undoubtedly inspire a
new wave of Boy-Those-Americans-Sure-Do-Have-Stupid-Lawsuits sentiment, along the lines of the
Coffee McLawsuit. If you don't realize that eating fatty foods will make you
fat, the amount of mercy that I (and, thankfully, the U.S. court system) have for you is extremely limited.