030631 McDonald's Asks Judge to Dismiss SuitJune 26, 2003New York - McDonald's fired back at accusations that its cooking fattens America's children, telling a judge that a lawsuit relies on incomplete information and outdated material to allege children were misled by advertising. "You can't allege something that's not true," Brad Lerman, the fast food chain's lawyer, told U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet, who reserved decision on McDonald's request to throw out the lawsuit. Lerman said lawyer Samuel Hirsch relied on 1987 advertisements and nutritional brochures published in the United Kingdom and Web site articles to try to claim children were misled by McDonald's. Hirsch, who represented the plaintiffs, used the court hearing meant for legal arguments to repeat his claim that McDonald's was contributing to the obesity of children by enticing them with fatty foods and supersized products. But he has dropped the centerpiece of his lawsuit, a claim that McDonald's put ingredients into its food that the public was not informed about. In January, Sweet tossed out an earlier version of the lawsuit, saying the law is not intended to protect people from "their own excesses." Outside the Manhattan court, McDonald's lawyer Jerome N. Krulewitch said the company's advertising was truthful. "We're proud of our advertising. We're proud of our food," he said. "Common sense will prevail."
E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com |
