(ConservativeJournal.org) – American litigiousness is alive and well even in the face of a pending world war. The system has come a long way from 1994’s Liebeck v. McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit, with customers and conglomerates now suing companies based merely on how food looks and tastes. A federal judge has ruled that another lawsuit can move forward and Burger King now finds itself in the crosshairs of the legal system.
A class-action case has been brought against the fast food maker that claims the franchised operation has been overstating the amount of beef in its famed Whopper. The suit contends that the company’s advertisements are misleading. For this sin, they must pay the piper.
Burger King is not alone. The American staple is nowhere near being the only eatery to be targeted by skilled legal hunters. Perkins Coie, a firm that monitors class-action lawsuits, said that food and beverage providers were the targets of 214 total suits in 2022 alone.
Data shows a massive increase in the number of food-related lawsuits hitting the industry. During the first half of 2010, 45 such suits were filed. The first half of 2022 saw an increase of more than 100 percent in the number of filings, with 101 suits criss-crossing the legal industry.
According to industry attorney Pooja Nair, the phenomenon of food-related cases ending up in federal courts is a relatively new occurrence. The counsel appears to suggest that class-action suits are to blame and seems to imply that many or most are frivolous in nature.
She cited cases in which potato chip-makers were sued for not filling their bags to the brim, most of which were dismissed. Nair points out that the overwhelming majority of cases are filed in the liberal bastions of New York, California and Illinois. The firm behind the Burger King suit also has pending cases against Taco Bell, McDonald’s and Wendy’s, all of which are in New York.
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