How can someone go about sueing McDonalds for making them fat ... and win?

Since the Lord took Johnny Cochran home there is no way to win :(

Honestly, seems lame. If you choose to eat that shit, suffer the consequences. I despise McDonald’s just like the other guy, but c’mon, a lawsuit?

I want to sue gravity because I’m short.

Don’t know, except to acknowledge that we live in a strange world.

…even if McDonald’s is all you can afford, shouldn’t hold up.

Why would you file a lawsuit like this in the first place? It’s ludicrous and frivolous. Unless Ronald McDonald is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to eat his nutritional disasters, you have no grounds for a complaint or litigation.

All one has to do is watch a documentary called “Super Size Me” and many things become instantly clearer in regards to fast food in general.

First of all, you would have to have some pretty damning and flawless evidence that McDonald’s is the sole perpetrator.

One can get fat off millions of other garbage people eat. A person can eat at McDonald’s and not get fat. It’s about taking care of your body – therefore its not McDonald’s fault.

@btko- I totally agree. Even if there was nothing but fattening crap at McDonalds, still not their fault. I don’t see anyone suing Baskin Robbins, and at least you have the choice of salad at Mickey D’s.

I tried to sue Nintendo for my poor performance on the SAT and failure to gain entrance into Princeton. I lost.

It’s not their fault until a majority of Americans become obese. Which they are. And McDonald’s is a huge contributor to the problem. The problem is systemic, but McDonald’s is responsible for no small part of it.

Do you still think that everyone can be expected to be responsible for themselves when, at the rates we’re going, with regards to fast food and obesity, over half of Americans will be blind from diabetes in 2050? I’d say that when the majority of people are suffering, whether it’s due to their choices or not, then something needs to change drastically.

Furthermore, the cost of a McDonald’s hamburger doesn’t accurately reflect its cost. If you get fat and need medical help, but don’t have medical insurance, who do you think pays for it? Medicare, that’s who. And who pays for Medicare? Me. The Taxpayer. McDonald’s should be charging extra, and that extra should be going towards offsetting the medical expenses they are empowering people to incur.

It is currently the case that if you buy a hamburger for a dollar, you’re also taking a penny from me. It feels like theft, and McDonald’s should pay for it. Not me. It’s just like the law to wear seat belts. It’s not to protect the people in the car. It’s to protect the taxpayer from paying to keep your vegetable self alive for your short-sightedness, when you don’t die.

I wanna sue Mastercard and Visa for making me bankrupt.

If someone sues mcdonalds for making them fat.. I should be able to sue their mother for making them pathetic.

To win against McDonald’s you would have to prove that they forced you to eat the stuff, and since no one forces you to stop at MickeyD’s except your own children, you haven’t got a hope of ever winning.

in fact you can sue someones mother for making them pathetic. You can sue for anything, the problem is winning… Its clear that obesity is something we are personally responsible for. Have fun though.

@lataylor alright already, we get the picture!

If it were a possibility, don’t you think someone would have gone after bakeries by now. I think you would have worse weight problems spending $20/day at a bakery or ice cream shop than $20/day at BK or McD. Or could we make them all adults only admittance?

If McDonald’s has already won once in court about this issue it’ll be much harder to pursue a case against them for the same issue. But furthermore, the concept of suing them because you got fat by eating there is outlandishly ridiculous and stupid. No one is forcing you to eat there. You have to be responsible for yourself. The courts aren’t there to make sure you are being taken care of by all other people in all other types of businesses, for crying out loud!

This is like suing a dentist for not coming over and brushing your teeth each night. Just because the dentist takes care of your teeth from time to time in exchange for money, doesn’t mean he’s obliged to take care of your teeth all the time. Similarly, just because you ate at McDonald’s does not oblige them to watch over your health and monitor what you eat.

If you went to McDonald’s, you chose to go there.
If you spent money at McDonald’s, you chose to spend the money.
If you ate the food, you were probably beholden to the money you spent, and/or you chose to eat.

Don’t blame the company.

This chain of logic is the reason why people don’t win.

Someone may want to go the route of people who sued the tobacco companies. It took decades but they became minimally successful by proving cigarettes cause cancer, the tobacco companies knew it and they used additives that made cigarettes more addictive and dangerous.

The problem with McDonalds is that the food is not unhealthy, it’s just the amount consumed that can cause problems, which is true of anything from water to salt to whipped cream.

Wonder if anyone read the topics involved with this question before they answered?

Also wonder how the words “someone” and “they” were read as “I” and “me.”

Lastly, wondering why so many people became so hostile when answering a question.

@Sakata, Who’s hostile?

Yeah, exactly what Darwin said. This seems to have been a very good exchange of thoughts and opinions so far from what I have seen.

@Sakata….Lmao You just can’t leave well enough alone can you.

lurve to my favorite masochist

@Sakata I was confused by your comment until I saw that you were the one who asked the question- are you trying to find a way to sue McDonalds?

It’s just a question

The same line of reasoning that you guys are using to defend McDonald’s could be the same that you could use to defend other voluntary illegal things. Would it be okay if Heroin was legal? Just because someone opted-in to use it, doesn’t mean that it’s a good thing if it’s around and available. Society is better, as a whole, if things that result in a significant cost to its constituency is less available or not available.

McDonald’s is addictive, arguably not as voluntary as you make it out to be (since the people who go there most usually don’t have many other options for food), and results in a huge financial hit to the rest of the population (who may be choosing not to eat at these restaurants as well), years down the line. It’s a deferred cost that I would rather not pay, let alone be forced to pay by PersonX’s short sightedness.

I’m not arguing that the food from McDonald’s should be illegal. I’m arguing that suing them for the medical risks its customers incur shouldn’t be as outlandish as people seem to think. I believe that there ought to be a tax on their food that goes towards paying for the medical care that its frequent customers will invariably incur later in life. Instead of forcing the population as a whole to pay that tax. It feels like theft to me, since I have no power to say that I won’t pay for your medical costs, since you decided to eat at McDonald’s thirty years ago.

It’s your choice to wear a seat belt. I don’t have the choice not to pay for you when you’re paralyzed. Nationalized healthcare is a good idea, but McDonald’s food is abusing that system.

@Fieryspoon…Heroin is illeagal…McDonalds is not.

The right to do what we want to our own bodies is our right as human beings…policing the world’s eating habits is not.

You missed the point.

It is your right, at the moment. I don’t think it should be, since you acting poorly now results in taking my resources later. I’m happy to pay for your health bills if you get sick at no fault of your own. I object to paying your health bills when you could have easily avoided making yourself sick if you had a little bit of self control.

I’ve said it a million times Fieryspoon. If it’s just a matter of money to you, then would’nt it be cheaper to make folks who get fat eating McDonalds or hooked on heroin financialy responsible for what they’ve done?

It lets you off the money hook and is way cheaper than micro-policing people’s daily lives.

No, because they don’t have the means to support themselves. They’re irresponsible people, remember? They aren’t responsible enough to take care of themselves after they need it. And if they’re sick with no support and no money, then you get a lot more crime. It’s just not that simple. McDonald’s is empowering these people, and I think they ought to be taxed for it.

Are you advocating that Heroin should be legal? :)

Anyway, I think I’ve made my argument, so agree with me or disagree, but I don’t think either one of us will be convincing the other of anything, any time soon :)

I would agree with a McDonald’s Tax.

@btko, would you agree with a car tax then, because by using a car you are not using a bike to move around, and thus you are not doing all you can to be healthy?

I say this point to illustrate the fact that taxing to discourage certain behavior can quickly become a downhill slope, especially when morality is brought into it, and that such taxing goes against everyone’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Let people eat McDonald’s [or do Activity X] if they want to. If they die when they’re younger, it’s less of a financial and social burden than if they were to live well until old age, especially here in Canada where we have socialized heath care.

@fieryspoon…I agree with everything you say my friend. :)

except the part where we should let the government regulate what we do with our bodies

8)

@Fieryspoon Whoa! McDonald’s an addictive illegal substance? I’m here to say that I may be off the hard stuff but I’ve been known to grow my own. I have actually brought friends and family together and given them meat patties, buns, cheese, pickles, tomatoes and various sauces. One of the reasons I keep anonymous is that I deal to children.

@galileogirl,...So uh, know where I might be able…I mean, uh, a friend of mine, could get some of that?

Try Safeway or a summer picnic.

Ok Blonde the next time we ‘party’ you’re invited. bring your own paraphenalia…er I mean napkins

@dynamicduo, I’m not sure how long ago with was but there already is a car tax – it’s called gasoline. There are federal and provincial taxes on gasoline, which I think could be higher. We are no where near the true cost of driving personal automobiles.

You’d have to prove it to the judge somehow. You can’t just make baseless claims and expect to win. Well, maybe one or two cases are like that, but most likely, you’ll get laughed at.

You need to back up your claim with support/evidence. I can’t believe someone actually tried suing McDonald’s for that reason. No one put a gun to these peoples’ heads and forced them to eat this stuff. Most likely everyone eats fast food of their own free will, and yes, more than likely, these places know they serve food that’s unhealthy. I guess that’s why some places serve salad as a menu item.

You can’t, no more than you can sue a bakery for selling donuts.