Meat + Poultry - March 2006 - 59

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Commonly senseless

■

Stella Liebeck had most of the
world scratching their heads
in 1994.
Liebeck was the elderly woman
who brought a lawsuit against
McDonald's for serving hot coffee,
which spilled on her, causing thirddegree burns. A jury awarded her
$2.9 million in damages.
The particulars of the story went
much deeper than just an elderly
woman crying over spilled coffee, but
the damage had been done. Liebeck's
case became an American punch
line, used whenever something unbelievable made it into the court of
public opinion.
Despite strong movements
for tort reform in the civil-justice
arena, peculiar cases and legislative
bills have far from curbed since the
Liebeck case.
Issues like banning sow crates in
such sparse pork states as Florida and
Arizona, developing the term "companion" livestock in Maine, filing
lawsuits for "loss of companionship"
when animals are injured, and waging
obesity litigation against McDonald's
seem like head-scratchers. But, they
are part of laying the groundwork
for a larger agenda, according to
Phil Goldberg, who practices publicpolicy law in Washington, D.C., at
Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP.
"Our clients are seeing more
personal-injury lawyers join forces
with social- and animal-right's activists because of the synergies between
litigation and legislation," Goldberg
explains. "Just like companies use
market research, these groups test
waters and try to change attitudes.
"What may seem outlandish
to some may seem mainstream to
others. Most people do not think you
should get companionship damages
if your sheep is killed, but that was
tried in Massachusetts, or be compensated for eating too much, like in

8 FSI

FOOD SYSTEMS

ınsıder

the lawsuit against McDonald's," he
says. "In the food and animal arenas,
they are in the early stages. They
hope to find places where they can
change laws, get verdicts and further
their larger agenda."

The impact
Dan Mindus, senior analyst for the
Center for Consumer Freedom,
monitors the legal and legislative
community for issues like the banning
of corn syrup in schools, zoning laws

LIEBECK'S CASE
BECAME AN
AMERICAN PUNCH LINE,
USED WHENEVER
SOMETHING
UNBELIEVABLE
MADE IT INTO THE
COURT OF PUBLIC
OPINION.
separating schools from fast-food
restaurants and legislators proposing
taxes on food lacking specific nutritional qualities.
His non-profit group responds
aggressively when the issue appears
frivolous or lacks scientific support.
"All too often, narrow interests
try to promote their agenda without
reference to common sense,"

MARCH 2006

Mindus says. "And if the public isn't
engaged, sometimes they can get
away with it."
An oddball notion espoused in
a press release or lawsuit may be
tossed into the wastebasket, but it
might still have the desired impact.
"I think legislators will pluck
ideas out of the ethos, but the ethos
is created by advocacy groups,
primarily in Washington, that have a
broader agenda," Mindus says.

Road blocks
In January 2006, Sandy Greiner,
a state representative from Keota,
Iowa, helped fight frivolous complaints lodged against the state's
livestock operations.
"Generally, the sponsor is very
well-intended but is just interested in
sponsoring something on behalf of
a constituent, many times, or a
particular industry," she says. "They
don't always look at the unintended
consequences."
Greiner adds that there are
multiple levels at which frivolous legislation can be stopped before being
considered by Congress - at the
speaker's office, by a committee
chairman, by a subcommittee chairman or by votes in committee and
subcommittee.
"There are a lot of checks along
the way for opportunity to slow
something down if it needs to be
slowed down," she says.
Food and agriculture are not
alone in the cross hairs.
"At Shook Hardy, we are seeing
much more industry-wide litigation
and coordinated efforts in the past
10 to 15 years against all industries,"
Goldberg says. "Food and animal
industries are no exception." ■
By James Arnold
food360°
Meat + Poultry - March 2006

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