Efforts Underway to Interest State AGs in Obesity Litigation
According to Politico.com, an attorney who formerly represented cigarette
manufacturers and served as in-house counsel for a major food company has
written to the attorneys general (AGs) of 16 states seeking to interest them in
bringing a lawsuit against “big food” to recover the financial Medicaid burdens
associated with treating obesity-related diseases. Similar to AG efforts in the
1990s that culminated in a $246 billion tobacco industry settlement with 46
states, this initiative has its naysayers and supporters.
A former AG, now directing Columbia Law School’s National State Attorneys
General Program, claimed that the proposal will not gain traction because
“[t]he food industry doesn’t deny that eating lots of food causes obesity.” On
the other hand, Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy Dean Kelly
Brownell said, “I don’t think it’s far-fetched at all. It’s probably not something
that will happen immediately, but I don’t think it’s that far off.” Some have
reportedly suggested that “food addiction” will eventually be the theory
underlying food industry lawsuits, and plaintiffs’ lawyers will look for “smoking
gun” documents to support the allegation. U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal
Reform President Lisa Rickard speculated that “the food industry has a big
target on its back,” because plaintiffs’ lawyers, who contribute to AG election
campaigns, are typically hired to do legal work for AG offices in exchange for
part of the settlement.
Former Mississippi AG Mike Moore, who filed the first lawsuit against the tobacco industry and spearheaded the class action settlement, noted that AGs were initially reluctant to take on the industry—“The issue was too controversial. Nobody thought we had a chance to win.” Still, Moore distinguished the products, “It’s just not the same. There is no safe use of cigarettes, but we live off food. I’d never say you can’t make a case. That’s all I heard for five years. But you’d really have to have some significant proof.” See Politico. com, February 12, 2014.
Issue 513
