Dismissed obesity case against McDonald's set to go to trial after all; appeals court reverses earlier federal ruling

• Court Reinstates Fast-Food Lawsuit A judge says two teenagers can seek more evidence in their case against McDonald's.
• A federal appeals court in New York ruled Tuesday that two teenagers were entitled to move forward with a lawsuit alleging that McDonald's Corp., the world's largest fast-food company, concealed health risks of Chicken McNuggets and made the youths obese.
• The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a decision by U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet, who had dismissed the case last year.
• U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, writing for a three-judge panel, said Ashley Pelman and Jazlen Bradley were entitled to seek further evidence to prove their case, which was based on a New York consumer protection law.
• The suit alleges that the combined effect of McDonald's promotional representations from 1987 to 2002 "was to create the false impression that its food products were nutritionally beneficial and part of a healthy lifestyle, if consumed daily," wrote Rakoff, an appointee of President Clinton.
• The New York statute the plaintiffs are using does not require them to prove that they relied on the company's representations.
• The statute, Rakoff noted, "extends well beyond common-law fraud to cover a broad range of deceptive practices."
• When he dismissed the case, Sweet, an appointee of President Carter, said the plaintiffs had failed to draw an "adequate causal connection between their consumption of McDonald's food and their alleged injuries."
• The 2nd Circuit's decision to reinstate the obesity case "opens the door not only for similar lawsuits against fast-food companies but also permits the plaintiffs to demand previously secret documents" from McDonald's, said John Banzhaf III, a George Washington University law professor who has advised the plaintiffs' lawyer.