Tobacco Lawyers Sue the Food Companies

Great news for the millions of victims of the food industry—the tobacco lawyers are now on your side. All the hapless people who have been eating Cheerios to keep their cholesterol in check in spite of their daily 5,000-calorie diets of super-sized double bacon cheeseburgers, french fries, and chocolate shakes now finally have a friend, a knight in shining armor to save them from themselves.

The NY Times reported on Sunday that since pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars from the tobacco companies, lawyers have been desperately searching for their next payday. So all those companies that claim their products are “natural,” “healthy,” or “organic” better take heed that if one molecule of some ingredient in their products is considered unhealthy by these lawyers or their highly paid experts, they are going to be hauled into court. They will have to defend themselves from some class-action lawsuit that will cost millions of dollars to defend and accomplish absolutely nothing—other than to make a few exceedingly rich lawyers even richer.

Does anyone really believe that a jury of 6, 8, or 12 people (depending on the jurisdiction) is able to decide what is best for the American consumer? That’s the only justification these lawyers give for taking hundreds of millions of dollars from companies that would have to spend twice that amount just to defend themselves. We already have laws enforced by the Federal Trade Commission that curb false advertising in food products and fine those companies that do not comply. Truthfully the food companies take these laws seriously. Are there occasional slip-ups? Of course. Do we need teams of lawyers to force these companies to defend themselves in court? Keep in mind that a company that sells its products throughout the United States can be sued in any county in the United States. Plaintiffs’ lawyers select those counties they already know have judges or jury pools who are favorable to their perspectives. Whatever the result, it is obviously not representative of the views of the majority of Americans.

We don’t need the lawyers to save us from ourselves. Let the FTC do its job. Let the open market do its job.