Issue 140 Item 11 McDonalds Fat Lawsuit Chucked! But Hold On!

A Manhattan judge has chucked the Big Mac attack lawsuit brought on behalf of eight tubby teens who sued McDonald’s for making them diabetic or fat. Saying the law is not intended to protect people from their own excesses, a federal judge threw out a class-action lawsuit that blamed McDonald’s food for obesity, diabetes and other health problems in children.

But Robert Sweet, a sprightly, 80-year-old federal jurist in fine health, gave the kids the ingredients for a replacement lawsuit – and offered them 30 days to cook one up.

The judge suggested an amended complaint focusing on whether McDonald’s products had been so altered that their unhealthy attributes were beyond consumers’ understanding.

For example, the judge said, it could be argued that Chicken McNuggets, rather than being merely chicken fried in a pan, are a "McFrankenstein creation of various elements."

After listing McNuggets’ ingredients, Sweet pointed out that customers might not know that they contain twice as much fat per ounce as a hamburger.

"If plaintiffs were able to flesh out this argument . . . it may establish that the dangers of McDonald’s products were not commonly well known and thus that McDonald’s had a duty towards its customers," Sweet wrote in his 64-page ruling.

Sweet said if the kids can’t prove deception or negligence by the owners of the Golden Arches, their best recourse is to stop supersizing their meals.

"If consumers know, or reasonably should know, the potential ill health effects of eating McDonald’s, they cannot blame McDonald’s if they, nonetheless, choose to satiate their appetite with a surfeit of supersized McDonald’s products," he said.