# FYI: McDonalds obesity suit dismissed

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fyi-mcdonalds-obesity-suit-dismissed/150338>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 23, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fyi-mcdonalds-obesity-suit-dismissed/150338 "2003-01-23T01:52:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fyi-mcdonalds-obesity-suit-dismissed/150338/1 "2003-01-23T01:52:47Z")

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For now, anyway.

Since the initial lawsuit sparked so much debate, I thought you might like to know how things have developed.

[http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2003/01/22/rtr855183.html](http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2003/01/22/rtr855183.html)

some exerpts:

> [@](#):
>
> McDonald’s Corp. won a major victory for the fast-food industry Wednesday when a federal judge threw out a widely watched lawsuit that blamed Big Macs, fries and Chicken McNuggets for obesity in children.  
> …  
> But the judge did not let McDonald’s off the hook completely. Referring to Chicken McNuggets as a “McFrankenstein creation” of elements not used by home cooks, he said the plaintiffs could refile their case with information backing their claim that diners have no idea what is really in their food or that the products have allegedly become more harmful because of processing.
> 
> At issue, the judge said, is where to draw the line between personal responsibility and society’s responsibility to protect individuals. He also cited concerns the case could “spawn thousands of similar 'McLawsuits”’ against all types of restaurants.  
> …  
> [Judge Sweet said] “If consumers know … the potential ill health effect of eating at McDonald’s, they cannot blame McDonald’s if they, nonetheless, choose to satiate their appetite with a surfeit of supersized McDonald’s products.”  
> …  
> The suit was brought on behalf of overweight children who ate at two McDonald’s restaurants in the Bronx borough of New York City. One of the named plaintiffs is a 15-year-old who said he weighs 400 pounds and has diabetes after eating McDonald’s food every day since he was six.

Also:  
[http://money.cnn.com/2003/01/22/news/companies/mcdonalds/index.htm](http://money.cnn.com/2003/01/22/news/companies/mcdonalds/index.htm)

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**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fyi-mcdonalds-obesity-suit-dismissed/150338/2 "2003-01-23T03:22:46Z")

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Sorry to rain on your parade but,[another thread is already in progress…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=158191&highlight=Mcdonalds)😉

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**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fyi-mcdonalds-obesity-suit-dismissed/150338/3 "2003-01-23T05:59:25Z")

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Just what I get for leaving off the asterisk when searching ‘mcdonald’ :smack: