‘Fat Fraud’ Lawsuits Could Fatten Wallets

Re “Betcha Can’t Sue Just One,” Commentary, July 26: Jonathan Turley, while admitting that “fast-food businesses are vulnerable to allegations of misrepresentation, fraud and negligence,” nevertheless makes light of efforts to use legal action against obesity in the same way my colleagues and I have been so successful in using it against smoking. But the experts scoffed as well when the first smoker lawsuits were filed, and we are now routinely winning multimillion-dollar verdicts.

People made light of a lawsuit my law students helped bring against McDonald’s for failing to disclose the fat content of its French fries, but a $12.5-million settlement seems to have quieted the critics and encouraged at least three additional fat-fraud lawsuits, one of which is also close to settlement.

The fast-food industry is already responding with major attack ads--and a campaign warning people not to eat too much fast food--sure signs that it is taking these lawsuits seriously. So experts, pundits and commentators can scoff all they want; I’ve heard it many times before.

John F. Banzhaf III

Professor of Public Interest Law

George Washington University Law School

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I could just kick myself. First, as a teenager, I chose not to begin smoking cigarettes and missed out on blaming Philip Morris for lung ailments I might have developed. Then, about 10 years ago, I gave up fast food and junk food to help ensure good health into middle age, so I’ve got no case against Ronald McDonald or Col. Sanders.

And therein lies the irony. As a trim, fit, 47-year-old turned vegetarian, how will I ever afford to live to be 100 without a share of a multibillion-dollar class-action lawsuit? I can only hope that some crafty scientist will find a deadly toxin in spinach or broccoli and that I have been unknowingly “greening” myself to an agonizing death, allowing me to sue the evil agri-corporations and retire early. Otherwise I’ll just have to continue working for a living.

James Reilly

Redondo Beach