NFIB supports protecting business from frivolous obesity-related lawsuits.

Recently the restaurant and foodservice industries have been confronted with a string of frivolous lawsuits claiming they are the cause of some individuals' obesity-related health conditions.
  • NFIB supports H.R. 554, the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act and S. 908, the Commonsense Consumption Act of 2005, which would protect businesses from being held responsible for their customers' eating habits.
  • In NFIB's December 2003 Member Ballot, 88 percent of our members agreed that foodservice companies, retailers and wholesalers should not be held liable for customer obesity.
  • According to a recent Gallup Poll, 89 percent of Americans believe that the food industry should not be blamed for issues related to obesity.
  • Food-related businesses should not be held responsible for providing customers with what they want. These lawsuits deny the role that personal responsibility plays in the dietary choices of individuals.
  • The bills proposed in the 108th Congress would inject a measure of fairness and protection into a legal system that preys on business, often without regard to legal merit. Congress needs to preempt the lawsuit industry from finding new targets by protecting innocent businesses.
  • Small-business owners continue to pay a high price under our nation's troubled legal system. The threat of a frivolous lawsuit remains one of small-business owners' greatest worries. The Rand Institute found that the cost of a lawsuit could now be estimated at more than $100,000. A significant number of NFIB members have been exposed to these types of lawsuits.
  • For example, in a recent survey of NFIB members in Texas, more than one-third stated that they had been sued or threatened with lawsuits for punitive damages. In a poll of Tennessee members, one-third reported they had been sued, while almost half had been threatened with a suit. Most recently in Ohio, one out of three small businesses have been sued in the last five years and 51 percent have been threatened with a suit (NFIB Small Business Policy Guide).