Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Fatness

Whew! This is a relief to the industry and none too soon. Talk about frivolous law suits. Someone decides to eat a giant portion burger, monster size premium ice cream, or a frequent cheeseburger. They then sue fast-food chains because it can make them fat. Go figure! Fortunately, the U.S. House served up a super-size serving of relief for American fast-food purveyors Wednesday and a clear message when it voted 306-120 to bar overweight civil litigants from suing over the health aspects of burgers, fries and milk shakes. Republicans voted in near unison for the pass of the bill that banned liability of obesity on restaurants. The House decided that every American still has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of fatness... or slimness, if they so chose.

This new development in law suits against fast-food companies for helping individuals get fat were initiated by teenagers against McDonalds. The case was thrown out of court but later part of the filing was deemed admissable.

CattleNetwork.com went to the root of the issue in an editorial saying, "Maybe we should also call it the 'You-are-what-you-eat-so- be-damn-careful-with-your-choices' bill... Isn't it about time the government realized that it can't force us to make the currently politically correct choices?" The CattleNetwork editorial then calls our attention to the absurdity of the situation if frivolous cheeseburger law suits took root in this country:

"we would be searching for underground McDonald's and Hardee's and binging on #3 super-sized in "tell 'em Joe sent you" prohibition era speakeasies. High-powered, rum-runner style boats would be sneaking quarter pounders with cheese across the river in the dead of night from Canadian bootleggers."

Well put.

Link: Reuters, House OK Cheeseburger Bill Barring Lawsuits. Photo by Michael Slonecker via Stock.xchng