Lawyers Gear Up for Soda Suit

Read this fascinating New York Times article, "Lines are Drawn for Big Suit Over Sodas."

It was bound to happen. In fact, I’ve been expecting it.

About half a dozen lawyers — including Stephen Gardner, staff lawyer for the Center for Science in the Public Interest and veterans of successful tobacco litigation — plan to file a lawsuit in Massachusetts to get sales of sugary beverages banned in schools.

Gardner and the other attorneys argue, according to prolificTimes reporter Melanie Warner, that soda and other sugary beverages are harmful to students’ health, including leading to soaring obesity rates among children. Furthermore, selling those drinks in schools sends a message that downing them regularly is OK to do.

Reportedly, this will be be the first of many such state lawsuits.  Massachusetts is an interesting choice to begin to launch this attack — the state has strong consumer protection laws and it’s the home for some of the lawyers.

The lawsuit will name Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and their local bottlers, the lawyers say.

Not surprisingly, the $92 billion beverage industry — which is dominated by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo — is gearing up for a counterattack, The Times story notes.

In fact, as I pointed out last week, the American Beverage Association — the soda industry’s lobbying group (formerly called the National Soft Drink Association) — released a study which argued that soda sales in schools aren’t a significant contributor to rising childhood obesity rates. (‘Course the study just happened to be paid for by the soft drink group — although it was conducted by an outside economist. Why an economist drew the conclusions and not scientists is beyond me.)

Even so, schools rely on money they get from exclusive contracts with beverage companies. A report published in August by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found that 75 percent of all high schools, 65 percent of all middle schools and 30 percent of elementary schools have beverage contracts, the New York Times article points out.