Gov. Rod Blagojevich Friday signed a law that says consumers cannot file a lawsuit against a restaurant blaming them for obesity.
Illinois is the 11th state I read that imposes this law.
I know New York is one I don't know the others.
Do you agree?
I do. There is no one holding a gun to your head saying you have to eat this fast food or else.
Most people who are overly overweight didn't get where they are just by eating from a McDonalds, Wendy's Burger King etc.
I give Gov. Blagojevich a thumbs up. People are "sue" crazy as it is.
Keep these frivolous lawsuits out of our courts and get to the "real" crimes.

Are such laws fair? Constitutional?

Yes i agree! Restaurants just sell the food. The people who eat however many Big Macs is the person's progative, but it's also their fault if they become overweight from eating so many Big Macs at a time

This lawsuit craze that has swept our nation needs to be quelled and this is a start

I agree. Too often we absolve ourselves of personal responsibility for what happens to us, and look to find someone else to blame.

I would like to see more legislation of this sort, and which protects people who are more vulnerable and important in society than fast food restaurants - e.g. obstetricians. A good place to start would be to cap the level of damages that can be awarded in litigation cases of this sort. All of us (except for trial attorneys) would benefit from the reduction in insurance costs that would result.

I would much rather permit restaurants to be sued, while expecting the courts to treat all such suits sensibly. However, given the US tort system's penchant for huge compensation payouts to the stupid for doing stupid things with items sold in good faith - like expecting coffee not to scald when it spills onto the body - I fear this is the only sensible option.

However, this does not absolve restaurants from all responsibility. After all, we take a dim view of bar staff that serve people that are already drunk. What stops us from expecting a waiter or counter staff member from saying to an obese person that they will not serve them?

I think the difference between the good publican cutting us off and a waiter refusing service to an obese person, is that there is a real and immediate risk to the drunk bar patron, and possibly others, should said patron get belligerent or drive, while the obese person doesn't present much of an immediate risk to anyone's health.

While this law has good intentions, it is another bandaid fix to a root problem, as Julian was mentioning.

Thumbs up for the law, thumbs down for failing to fix the problem.

Thumbs up for the law? Seriously? Imagine, for a moment, McDonalds actually DID refuse to serve a person at the counter because they determined, upon visual inspection, that person was "too fat to eat our food". Do you think that sort of discrimination would wash in court? It should, if this sort of law held up. In fact, a restaurant would have to (in the interest of protecting itself), eliminate drive-throughs and refuse to serve the overweight. Or have some sort of contractual disclaimer stating "I am responsible for this purchase".

Maybe we should have those contracts at the grocery stores as well. I'm sure Tysons will eventually qualify as food that "made my little Ricky fat", and then my chicken-nuggets will go up in price to give little Ricky compensation. Baskins ice cream, Mrs Fields....the list of food that's bad for you is endless, and the number of obese people in the country is skyrocketing. Imagine if they could all sue for their own stupid food choices.

Edited to add (later, after rereading): Oops. I misread. The law says consumers CANNOT file a lawsuit against a restaurant blaming them for obesity. Yes, I agree.