The US House of Representatives was to take up yesterday a bill that would block so-called "frivolous" lawsuits that accuse fast-food chains and other segments of the food industry of causing obesity.
Bill backers said Tuesday they expect the legislation to pass the House, although it is not yet clear whether companion legislation will come up in the Senate this year.
The bill states that its aim is "to prevent frivolous lawsuits against the manufacturers, distributors or sellers of food or non-alcoholic beverage products" that meet legal and sanitary standards.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay told reporters the legislation would prevent trial lawyers from mounting "Ronald McDonald made me do it" cases.
"If you eat a lot of food and get sick, it's your responsibility, not the restaurant's," said DeLay.
Bill sponsor Ric Keller said frivolous lawsuits would not make anybody thin, but would merely make trial attorneys' bank accounts fatter.
But George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf, a critic of the legislation, said courts throw lawsuits out if they are truly frivolous. People should have the right to their day in court, Banzhaf said.
The best-known case, which was filed by several teenagers against McDonald's, has been thrown out of federal court.
Keller's bill would protect makers, sellers and distributors of food and non-alcoholic beverages from obesity-related civil lawsuits in both state and federal courts. It would not affect lawsuits arising out of tainted foods or misleading labeling.
The legislation is part of a larger wave of mostly Republican-backed bills to curb lawsuits or limit legal damages. While some of these bills have passed the House, they often stall in the Senate.
The controversy comes among growing awareness of the public health implications of the trend toward obesity.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion