A helping of personal responsibility with that, please.

[Ed]

Vote in House Offers a Shield for Restaurants in Obesity Suits
By CARL HULSE

Published: March 11, 2004


ASHINGTON, March 10 — Saying overeating is a problem for individuals, not the courts, the House easily approved legislation on Wednesday to bar people from suing restaurants on the ground that their food makes customers fat.

Advocates of the Republican-written measure, which has become known on Capitol Hill as the cheeseburger bill, said it was needed to curb the threat of obesity claims against fast-food franchises that provide millions of jobs along with their burgers and fries.



http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/11/politics/11BURG.html?hp

A bit of sanity. Not much in the scheme of things but a bit.

[The Don]

Originally posted by Ed
Vote in House Offers a Shield for Restaurants in Obesity Suits

Is an obesity suit one where the trousers' waist size is bigger than the jacket's chest size ?

[Suddenly]

About the content I'm a bit cynical, but the larger issue...

I'm still trying to figure out how in the heck this is a federal issue. I know they want to protect all those "manufacturing" jobs, but I could have sworn conservatives were big on federalism, or is that only when liberals are in power? Isn't tort law supposed to be a state issue?

[Jon_in_london]

Originally posted by Suddenly
About the content I'm a bit cynical, but the larger issue...


Yes, you have to take it with a pinch of salt :p

[Blondin]

Originally posted by Suddenly
About the content I'm a bit cynical, but the larger issue...

Yes, I find it hard to swallow, too...:D

[Jon_in_london]

I'd not want to waist too much much time on this one though..

[Jon_in_london]

.

[corplinx]

Since we can't get real tort reform, it seems the GOP instead goes for smaller targets based on populist sentiment. My guess is they hope these shield bills will snowball into a uniform tort reform down the road.

[NoZed Avenger]

Tort reform is not a federal issue, nor should it be. Torts, generaly speaking, are not a federal issue, nor should they be.

[subgenius]

Originally posted by NoZed Avenger
Tort reform is not a federal issue, nor should it be. Torts, generaly speaking, are not a federal issue, nor should they be.
More federal encroachment from the party of "states rights."

[Tmy]

I like this bill. Fast food companies have become scapegoats. If you go to a 5 star resturant and eat burgers every day its just as unhealthy as McD's. Why pick on fast food?

[WildCat]

Originally posted by NoZed Avenger
Tort reform is not a federal issue, nor should it be. Torts, generaly speaking, are not a federal issue, nor should they be.
It is ceratainly a Federal issue when class actions are involved. The Chicago Tribune just did a series on it. Seems that Madison County, IL is a popular place to file class action lawsuits. There you have compliant judges who never saw a class action they wouldn't certify and a relatively uneducated jury pool that's anti-business. The newspapers thewre are full of advertisements from lawyers trying to find someone, anyone, who lives there to be a plaintiff so they can move the trials there. The lawyers get millions and the "victims" get maybe a coupon for a few bucks each. Legalized extortion is what it is.

The Dems in Congress (who seem to be in the pocket of trial lawyers) recently defeated a bill that would move certain (more than 100 plaintiffs seeking more than $5 million in damages) class action lawsuits to Federal courts.

[WildCat]

Originally posted by Tmy
I like this bill. Fast food companies have become scapegoats. If you go to a 5 star resturant and eat burgers every day its just as unhealthy as McD's. Why pick on fast food?
I'll teach you how to think like a trial lawyer, it's quite simple: Sue whoever has the most money, fault be damned!!