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Fat Teens Sue McDonald's

Josey1Josey1 Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
edited September 2002 in General Discussion
Fat Teens Sue McDonald's








FNC
Saturday, September 21, 2002

NEW YORK - You eat a lot of cheeseburgers at fast-food restaurants and you get fat.


But whose fault is that?

Lawyers for two obese teenagers in New York say McDonald's is to blame, and they're taking Ronald to court.

Kids just can't resist those happy meals, says one adviser on the case.

"When we're suing on behalf of children, it's hard to argue that a 6, or 8 or 10-year-old child has to take full responsibility for their decisions when they're lured into McDonald's by the toys and the playground and happy meals and the birthday parties," said attorney John Banzhaf.



FNC
The lead attorney in the most recent case, who also represents adults in a similar suit, refused to talk to Fox News on camera about the case. Nor would he let Fox News talk to the parents or his teenage plaintiffs.

But what is known is that both of his latest obese plaintiffs are girls. One is 5'9" and weighs 270 pounds, while the other is about 5'3" and 200 pounds.

Each girl is at least 80 pounds overweight, according to government statistics.

They have been eating at McDonald's several times a week for years.

Fox News broke a similar story this summer, when an obese man blamed his fatness and health problems on the food served up at Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

McDonald's says the average person eats there only twice a month and that this lawsuit has no merit.

The burger joint says it handles nutrition responsibly. It puts nutritional information about its products on large, poster-size charts on its store walls and in other display areas.

The charts show, for instance, that a quarter pounder with cheese has 530 calories and 30 grams of fat.

Nevertheless, the lawsuit claims kids and their parents didn't know how fattening the food was.

One restaurant group says that's ridiculous.

"You make choices in the food you want to purchase, and if you make the wrong choices relentlessly and perpetually, you're going to have health consequences," said John Doyle, co-founder of the Center for Consumer Freedom, a coalition of restaurant operators and individuals. "But that is not something that the restaurants are responsible for."

Critics say this class-action lawsuit reminds them of the lawsuit against Big Tobacco, in which lawyers blamed wealthy corporations for the personal choices of others.

Some legal observers are asking what the next target is -- pizza or ice cream?
http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63698,00.html


"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Comments

  • Josey1Josey1 Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Just as the idiot anti gun lawyers are suing firearm manufacturers for criminal use of their legally manufactured product, these fatso's are suing McDonalds for their own lack of self control. Sound familiar?

    "If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427
    edited November -1
    What happened to taking responsibility for your own actions?...Not if we can blame someone else... Pass the buck....oh yea... Make some money while passing the buck... Its not your fault that you ate too much.... its the restaurant...
    Now lets gets a bunch of money for your stupidity


    Lil' Stinker's Opinion
  • jltrentjltrent Member Posts: 9,344 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I think there should be some regulation on what is in and put in food. Everything we eat is loaded with salt, fat and whos knows what else. Sure this make it taste better and the better it taste the more they sell. This is why I think there should be some regulation on what goes in the food we eat.
  • bartobarto Member Posts: 4,734 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    yeah- and i think i will sue the next joker that posts one of those wiiiiide posts on here.
    i think ive finally figured out thats what is making my eyes go all screwy!
    another beer, maw!!
    barto

    the hard stuff we do right away - the impossible takes a little longer
  • interstatepawnllcinterstatepawnllc Member Posts: 9,390
    edited November -1
    My answer to all the greedy friviolous lawsuits is very simple. If a blood sucking, self serving lawyer wants to file a lawsuit he/she would would only be able to do so under the following condition. If they lose the case they are mitigating, they will have to pay the amount they are suing for to the party/parties involved in the suit. Bet you would see the amount of lawsuit filings dwindle to about nil. Seems fair to me.

    If your gonna be stupid you better be tough !!
  • steve45steve45 Member Posts: 2,940 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Our system of law is based on the English system with one major difference. The loser of an English lawsuit has to pay the winners court costs. Thats what keeps their system working. The lack of this rule has ruined our system.
  • DancesWithSheepDancesWithSheep Member Posts: 12,938 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Going after McDonald's for getting fat is like going after Toys-R-Us because your mother beat you in the mall parking lot.



    Often the mind believes it is thinking, when it is only passing from one metaphor to the next.
  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Something needs to be done. We're all too fat. You can chalk it up entirely to lack of exercise, or you can believe that if we were presented with the right foods in the supermarkets, what we eat would keep us slim and healthy. Or you can believe something in between.

    As a single guy, I tend to buy a lot of packaged meals. I wish they would keep me thin. When I go to buy fast food (I seldom sit down to eat in restaurants), sure I'd like that food to keep me thin. But I don't even know if that's possible. My doctor tells me that since we're both over 50, it's "normal" to be overweight. He said if I were as thin as I'd like to be, I'd be "abnormal."

    I grew up in a typical American family, where gatherings were usually around a table packed with homemade goodies. Significantly, none of that homemade stuff kept me skinny after a certain age. So if we don't require everything on supermarket shelves, every ingredient, every oil, to help keep us thin, I don't know why we should single out McDonald's, unless somebody wants to say, well, we've got to START SOMEWHERE. I could see that.

    I wish food providers of all kinds would take responsibility for providing food ingredients that would curb and rectify the "fattening of America." But I don't even know if that's scientifically realistic. But it sure would be nice. I told my barber the other day (a female) that I would like to find a woman who knows how to "cook skinny." She said, "Cook skinny?!" like it was a foreign concept. Which of course it is, in the vast majority of households. The typical response will be, "you wouldn't like it -- veggies and rice cakes." But that's all we know how to make NOW. Nobody's given any serious thought to skinny cooking science -- thus, rice cakes are the epitomy of thin cuisine, circa 2002. Sad.

    - Life NRA Member
    "If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
  • DancesWithSheepDancesWithSheep Member Posts: 12,938 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have eaten at McDonald's in China and Japan. The menu is nearly identical to ours. Nobody there is bringing suit because they're NOT getting fat. Maybe there are factors other than fare that account for Tommy Tubby's girth...and Tin Linh's lack of it.

    Often the mind believes it is thinking, when it is only passing from one metaphor to the next.

    Edited by - DancesWithSheep on 09/22/2002 16:05:50

    Edited by - DancesWithSheep on 09/22/2002 17:11:55
  • MercuryMercury Member Posts: 7,840 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Dances,
    Hehe....yah, like the fact that Tin would have to spend what he makes in an entire day to eat there. :)

    Thank god for McD's though. When I was in Hong Kong, by the third week I was SO SICK of eating noodles, I could have screamed.

    Ahhhhhhhh.........cheeseburger!

    Merc (Who can't eat the same thing day after day......ugh)



    NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!

    ****************************************

    "Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt
  • armed_ femalearmed_ female Member Posts: 1,222 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    sorry..but the supermarkets have the right foods...people need to take responibility for themselves and pick what is right and healthy to eat..(I don't do it either) We all need to stop blaming someone or something else, when it is our fault that we don't get away from this computer and exercise and we chose to eat junk food (guilty myself).
    If we have 8,9 and 10 year olds that are blaming McDonald's, I think we should back up and look at who is taking them there and buying the junk food...HMMMMMMm..suing parents for making their child obese...that may be next...we shall see..

    Gun Control is Hitting Your Target!
  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    In the world of PC, it's only a short step to identifying parents making their kids fat as child abuse. In fact, didn't I see a case of a morbidly obese child whose parents were arrested for abuse or neglect or something?

    I agree with you, armed female, about the supermarkets having the right raw foods, up to a point. But I'll go you one better by adding that the processed food manufacturers have a long way to go to move "slimming" up their list of priorities when creating and packaging products. I think the slimming of America could be fast-tracked if manufacturers had to do it, the way car manufacturers had to add 5-mile-an-hour bumpers years ago. They hated it, but eventually we got somewhat more crash-worthy cars. (I've had Toyotas hit HARD, front and rear, and not a scratch or dent on them.)

    And I admit I wouldn't know what to eat, other than salad and rice cakes, to shed the pounds either. The only thing that ever worked well for me was fasting or Phen-fen, and it turned out Phen-fen caused heart valve trouble -- dang.

    - Life NRA Member
    "If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
  • BullzeyeBullzeye Member Posts: 3,560
    edited November -1
    My first job was at a Burger King. And not surprisingly, it was also my shortest period of employment. Lets put it this way: if you spent a day watching how that "food" gets handled and made, you'd never eat fast food again.

    Although they weren't all that common, every day there were always a few customers who waddled in alone, ordered (usually something like a Double Whopper with cheese and a king fry), and tore into that sucker like a wolfpack descending on a lamb.

    These people were always obese (some grotesquely so), of universally poor hygene, and always alone. We called them "Double Whopper People". You could usually spot them right away, and the cashier would holler a warning to the guys in back to let them know an especially gigantic order was on the way.

    The sheer volume of food they could consume was shocking. I remember one huge fellow (who wanted to sit in a booth, but couldn't fit and settled for a table) who proceeded to order and eat 4 (count em, 4!)Whoppers with extra mayo over the course of an hour. I didnt know whether to laugh or suggest a shrink.
  • lokdok1lokdok1 Member Posts: 383 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Bullseye,
    Did you notice, they only chewed each mouthfull three or four times? Seriously!

    Bartman

    If you don't know your rights, you dont't have any!
  • BullzeyeBullzeye Member Posts: 3,560
    edited November -1
    quote:
    Bullseye,
    Did you notice, they only chewed each mouthfull three or four times? Seriously!

    Hell dok, I wouldnta' been surprised if they'd used their fist to pack 'em in 2 at a time.
  • Judge DreadJudge Dread Member Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    2?? 19AI ?Y??AI
    AU1U,????I 1.2Ay ???A ?A?A 3o_O?A'I'U.45AI ,?'U A?1r ?dA?AI ?D??A? A??O A??A ?O ?1A? AO'I'U

    400 million cows can't be wrong ( EAT GRASS !!! )
  • BullzeyeBullzeye Member Posts: 3,560
    edited November -1
    quote:
    2?? 19AI ?Y??AI
    AU1U,????I 1.2Ay ???A ?A?A 3o_O?A'I'U.45AI ,?'U A?1r ?dA?AI ?D??A? A??O A??A ?O ?1A? AO'I'U

    There is nothing wrong with your television set.
    Do not attempt to adjust the picture.
    We are controlling transmission.
  • pikeal1pikeal1 Member Posts: 2,707
    edited November -1
    I can't sit here and blame Mcdonalds for having a restaurant on my way home from work, and I can't blame them because I'm too tired, or feeling lazy, or haven't had time to go to the supermarket to get some real food.

    People need to take responsibility for their actions...if you don't do groceries, and you settle for fast food every day...your going to gain weight...its nobody's fault but your own.

    You can prepare meals on Sunday for the rest of the week and keep them in the freezer...but most people don't do that and blame their weight problems on someone else.

    Stores are full of stuff that won't make you fat...you just have to pick it up off the shelf and put it in your shopping cart. by the same token though, if you eat enough of that non fat stuff...you might as well just go to Burger King. Self control is the key...both in what you eat, and how much of it you eat.
  • n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427
    edited November -1
    The supermarkets sell the "right food", its a persons choice what to buy.... You can be on a diet and eat at McDonalds or Burger King, and eat "rigtht"... Salad, a hamburger with just mustard and ketchup... top it off with onions, lettuce, tomato... you can even add a slice of cheese... not many calories there...
    you can guess what this is leading too.... you cannot blame McDonalds or the supermarkets for you getting fat... They have told everyone what was in the food for years.. same as all processed food.. all the ingredients are listed..but there is something else that is keeping everyone fat....and that is
    Total lack of exercise... People are basically lazy....they wont move it they dont have too...
    Example... remote control... why get up and walk 5 feet to change a channel? Elevators to go one floor up instead of walking... parking in the spot closest to the store so you dont have to walk...
    What it all boils down too is responsibility for your own actions... If you want to eat the fattening food and not exercise.. sure you will get fat... but look around.. there are thin people eating everyday at McDonalds too.. their secret?... they know when to say NO...and they exercise...
    One thing that totally floored me in the hospital was the number of overweight nurses...and I dont mean 10 or 20 pounds overweight... I mean grossly overweight...and if you watch them you soon find out their lifestyle...take the elevator to go up one floor... a cart to take them from the front door to the car..(total of maybe 200 feet)
    and at coffee breaks what do they have?... one nurse had 3 donuts, a chocolate bar, and a soda... Did the store where she bought the donuts make her fat?... NOPE... eating 3 of them at a time does..and whose fault is that?.. Her own...



    Lil' Stinker's Opinion
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