Summary # 4

"Lawsuits Against Fast-Food Restaurants Are an Effective Way Combat Obesity" by John H. Banzhaf III is an essay explaining the benefits of the lawsuits against the fast food industries. Banzhaf describes how the new lawsuits brought against the fast food industries are an efficient way to halter obesity and other things. He feels that by preventing these lawsuits our country is not giving consequences for the part these restaurants play in the rise in obesity in the last couple of decades. As a result, the government is hindering a useful tool in holding the restaurants liable. The author consistently compares fast food industries to tobacco companies and the laws governing the fast food industries to the laws that govern tobacco. For example, in response to the comment that the lawsuits are "frivolous" Banzhaf states "the nonsmoker lawsuits, and the lawsuits by the states against the tobacco industry, were all initially frivolous."(164) and that "industries do not need protection against lawsuits which are truly frivolous, only those lawsuits which judges, juries and appellate courts are likely to take seriously." (164). In other words restaurants would not be so worried about these lawsuits if they were inconsequential. Banzhaf goes on to address a new bill that excludes restaurants from liability in food litigation. He finds this bill to be "premature- if not presumptuous and preposterous-" (164). The author feels that if restaurants would simply take certain precautions, such as displaying calorie information where the food is purchased, provide warnings and providing nutritious choices, industries would save themselves of the legal hassles. However, Banzhaf believes that if we stop lawsuits before they even happen trying to solve this problem it is just taking away the only weapon people have and granting the companies freedom from their liability.