Doing Lunch

The folks who filed suit against McDonald’s because eating there made them fat have run into a little roadblock on their quest to hit big casino in the federal court system. “They sued for deceptive acts and practices under the federal Consumer Protection Act, New York's General Business Law and New York City's Administrative Code, charging that McDonald's negligently sold food high in cholesterol and fat, and failed to warn about the dangers of Big Macs and McNuggets. The company was also negligent, they alleged, because it marketed food that was addictive.”

Unfortunately for the plaintiff’s hopes to move up from the Golden Arches to L’Hermitage, the occupant of the federal bench who heard their case had a different view of the matter. “If consumers know (or reasonably should know) the potential ill health effects of eating at McDonald's, they cannot blame McDonald's if they, nonetheless, choose to satiate their appetite with a surfeit of supersized McDonald's products.”

As is appropriate, the best part is saved for last. The federal district court judge who rendered the decision was Robert W. Sweet.

Read more about it here.

The opinion itself doesn’t appear to be on-line. (But it’s 64 pages anyway; you don’t really have that much time, do you?)

Say, are you going to finish those fries?