The nation’s obesity epidemic has led to a stream of lawsuits blaming restaurants for weight problems. However, some Wisconsin lawmakers are proposing legislation that would shield restaurant owners from lawsuits that try to make that claim.
The bill aims to promote personal responsibility for health by prohibiting lawsuits against state food industries for people’s obesity problems.
“‘The burger made me do it,’ is no reason to walk into court,” State Sen. Tom Reynolds, R-West Allis, said. “To best promote healthy lifestyles, we first need to promote personal responsibility.”
Reynolds also said the legislation would try to protect small businesses against “baseless lawsuits” that would only drive up consumer costs.
“This bill aims to protect consumers from increasing prices,” Adam Pee, Reynolds’s spokesman, said. “It’s a bill to preempt [obesity] lawsuits and to protect Wisconsin restaurants.”
A federal judge in New York recently threw out two class-action lawsuits that blamed McDonald’s for making people fat. Wisconsin restaurant owners said they fear these lawsuits will catch on locally.
“Our concern is that, as these lawsuits get thrown out of the larger states and larger chains, there’s a potential they would be directed to smaller states and smaller chains,” Wisconsin Restaurant Association spokeswoman Sara Stinski said.
Stinski added that instead of waiting for similar legislation to pass on the federal level, which usually takes longer, Wisconsin is pushing for a tailored law to “protect independent operators.”
“We feel really strongly that small restaurants are not responsible,” Stinski said.
However, some oppose the legislation, saying it limits court powers. Lynn Laufenberg, president of the Wisconsin Academy of Trial Lawyers, said this legislation is “premature.” He added that concerns involving obesity legislation have historically been handled “just fine” in the court system.
“We generally do not favor special immunities and special protections to a particular industry or interest group,” Lynn Laufenberg, president of the Wisconsin Academy of Trial Lawyers, said. “Our job is to protect judicial services in all claims.”
According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 59 percent of Wisconsin residents are either overweight or obese. The state’s obesity rate has nearly doubled over the last decade.
University of Wisconsin nutritional sciences professor Dale Schoeller said the wave of obesity over the last few years is due to overeating and not exercising enough. He said there is no evidence that restaurants addict the public to food and, therefore, are not “totally responsible.”
However, Schoeller did say that restaurants could push their social responsibility by aiding consumers.
“I think restaurants should help consumers by offering different choices and reducing portion sizes,” Schoeller said.
The bill is currently circulating for co-sponsorship among legislators. Reynolds, Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Sen. Roger Breske, D-Eland, will formally introduce it before the state Senate in two weeks.
Rep. Daniel Vrakas, R-Hartland, and Rep. Barbara Gronemus, D-Whitehall, will present it before the Assembly.
The bill is expected to be referred to the Assembly Committee on the Judiciary and the Senate Committee on Labor, Small Business Development and Consumer Affairs.
