Obesity in the Headlines

March 10, 2004 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

State Senate passes bill shielding food industry from obesity lawsuits
Doyle may veto it

By PATRICK MARLEY

Madison - People would be barred from suing fast-food restaurants for making them fat under a bill passed Tuesday by the state Senate, but Gov. Jim Doyle's office suggested the governor would veto the bill.

On one of the last days of the Senate session, lawmakers voted 23-8 to protect the food industry from what even opponents of the bill called frivolous lawsuits. Those opponents said, however, that the bill could unintentionally prevent people from filing suits when they were warranted.

Deflecting such claims, Sen. Tom Reynolds (R-West Allis) said, "One of this bill's intended consequences is to protect a viable part of Wisconsin's economy, the food manufacturers, from being preyed upon by a possibly unscrupulous segment of our society."

Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee) joined in by saying nobody "forced me to eat Big Macs."

But a group of vocal Democrats said the bill was not needed because judges are handling such lawsuits properly by throwing them out of court shortly after they are filed.

"People are responsible for their own behavior, and that's why there aren't (successful) lawsuits," Sen. Chuck Chvala (D-Madison) said, adding that only two lawsuits - both dismissed - had been filed in the country.

"You don't know what some of the adverse side effects of legislation like this might be," said Chvala, a personal injury lawyer.

Industry officials disagreed with claims that the bill isn't needed, saying they fear a wave of lawsuits as Americans get heavier and ever-more conscious of what are seen as dangers of carbohydrates, cholesterol and fat. The Wisconsin Restaurant Association said in a memo to senators that hundreds of trial attorneys gathered last summer to discuss strategies for filing such suits.

Senate Minority Leader Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) said no one would succeed with a lawsuit alleging fast-food restaurants could be held liable for making people obese, but he said a blanket exemption might prevent a diabetic from suing the manufacturer of a mislabeled product.

Doyle, a fellow Democrat, appears to agree that the measure is not needed.

An attorney, Doyle doesn't see a need to give restaurants, food manufacturers and food distributors legal immunity from obesity-related lawsuits, said Dan Leistikow, an aide to the governor.

"It's clear that this is a solution in search of a problem," Leistikow said. "There hasn't been any successful cases that we're aware of anywhere in the country, and there aren't any cases in Wisconsin."

Louisiana is the only state in the country that has passed such a law.

Steven Walters of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.