Originally published in the Washington Post on Wednesday, January 26, 2005; Page E10 [here]
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
By Tom Becker and David Glovin
Bloomberg News
McDonald's Corp. must face a suit by New York teenagers who claim the
company hid the health risks of Chicken McNuggets and other foods and
made them obese, an appeals court ruled.
A three-judge panel overruled U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet's
decision to dismiss the suit, which seeks billions of dollars in
damages. The New York-based panel vacated Sweet's decision and said the
children and their lawyers should be allowed to collect evidence in
support of their case.
The ruling is a victory for the teenagers, Ashley Pelman and Jazlen
Bradley, who claimed food from McDonald's made them obese and led to
health problems such as diabetes and heart disease. The suit is the
first complaint accusing a fast-food chain of hiding the health risks
of its food to be considered by a judge.
The teenagers said they ate at McDonald's restaurants three to five
times a week over a 15-year period. The suit claimed the company hid
the health risks of Big Macs, Chicken McNuggets and other foods high in
fat and cholesterol in 1987 advertisements in the United States and
brochures circulated in Britain.
McDonald's said there was no evidence that the teenage plaintiffs, one
of whom was born in 1988, saw the ads. The company also defended the
accuracy of its ads.
"As we have consistently said, common sense tells you this particular
case makes no sense," McDonald's spokesman Walt Riker said. "We are
confident this frivolous suit will once again be dismissed. The key
issue remains personal responsibility and making informed choices."
Samuel Hirsch, a lawyer representing the teenagers, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
Sweet twice dismissed the suit, most recently in September 2003. The appeal was heard in October.
The decision came the same day that the movie "Super Size Me," a
documentary in which director Morgan Spurlock eats only at McDonald's
Corp. restaurants for 30 days and gains 25 pounds, was nominated for an
Academy Award.