I consider myself a foodie. I like to cook, I like to go out to eat and I like to watch competitive cooking shows. I noted over the summer, Weird and Wacky Wednesdays often dealt with food crimes. If I could go back to law school, I might have specialized in “food law.” If this isn’t a recognized area of the law, I could make it one just like I invented “Driving Law” about a decade ago.
This week we’re still dealing with food, but this time it’s fast-food lawsuits.
Not-So-Happy Meal
Just this week we learned that McDonalds is being sued because a boy apparently found a knife in his happy meal. This happened just across the border in Washington State. Instead of finding a toy in the happy meal box, the 4-year-old child found what Americans refer to as a box cutter (and Canadians traditionally call a razor knife).
It appears that the child wasn’t injured but according to the attorney acting for the family, “he doesn’t want to go to McDonalds anymore.” The claim is for “imminent harm” that caused the family “immediate” emotional distress.
Apparently, this has happened before in the history of McDonalds, i.e. an employee drops a knife and it ends up in the food packaging. It seems to me, from my limited knowledge of food law, the damages here should be minimal as nobody was hurt. But what do I know? I’m not a food lawyer. Still, I’d be willing to cross examine the 4-year-old boy to see whether this was actually more than an inconvenience.
Beef With MrBeast
This headline caught my eye: MrBeast sues fast food company over ‘revolting’ burger
I have so many questions! Was he served a lousy burger? (answer: no) Who is MrBeast? (answer: keep reading).
MrBeast is a YouTube sensation. He has 178 million subscribers and billions of views of his videos. What that means is that he has a ton of accumulated goodwill and a huge fan base, which makes him a marketer’s dream.
Jimmy Donaldson, the man behind MrBeast, has looked for opportunities to leverage his brand and to that end he apparently formed an agreement with a company called Virtual Dining Concepts to start a fast-food chain using his name. But things soured because, according to Donaldson, the food is “revolting.”
Reputation is everything on the net and Mr. Donaldson has had to apologize to fans for the poor-quality food. He says the association with this restaurant is hurting his brand.
The lawsuit claims that food was served that was “inedible.” The pleadings assert that the bad food “has caused material, irreparable harm to the MrBeast brand and MrBeast’s reputation.”
As a self-proclaimed connoisseur of burgers, I can totally sympathize with MrBeast. Nobody wants their name on a lousy burger. Of course, it will be up to him to establish that the food fails to live up to what was promised. I’m not sure how this would play out in food court. How do you preserve the exhibits?
Fast Food Phonies
We in our office have often pondered the risk restaurants face in this litigation-filled modern world. We suspect drive thru restaurants face the risk of a class action lawsuits for incorrect orders. Chances are members of any jury could sympathize with the plaintiffs who get 5 miles down the road, open the bag and discover they’re missing a burger. If I was a food lawyer, I might investigate this one.
Here’s another irritating fast-food issue: the image of the food looking nothing like what you were served. How many times have you opened the bag to get a mushed hamburger, cheese falling out, torn bun and a patty slipping out one side? It’s upsetting. You feel like you have been ripped off. You feel like this was a bait and switch. Or at least, that’s how I feel. And I would like someone to recognize my feelings. But how do you frame this as a lawsuit?
We are learning that in some jurisdictions, the images may constitute false advertising and that hundreds of lawsuits have been filed and resolved on this basis.
Just this summer a suit was filed in New York against Taco Bell, claiming that photos in their ads for Crunchwrap Supreme, Vegan Crunchwrap, Grande Crunchwrap, Mexican Pizza, and Veggie Mexican Pizza were misleading because in the actual item there is about half the advertised amount of beef.
This lawsuit is a proposed class action, which means there may be a very small amount of money in damages for each member of the class, but the total settlement or damages ordered may be gigantic.
So, if successful, the food lawyers, who typically get paid on contingency, will get a big payout.
The hungry lawyers who practise driving law look on with envy.
See you next week!
