大規模不法行為訴訟における損害賠償請求 : アメリカにおける食品訴訟が示す現状と課題

抄録

Food has been much regulated since the dawn of history. It being highly susceptible to adulteration and essential to life, government has acted to insure the ingredients of food. Common Law has also given civil cause of action for damages in relation to the sale of adulterated food. Food litigation is likely to be mass torts litigation because food has a great impact on our daily life. Mass torts litigation for damages has been criticized by many scholars and attorneys for over a decade because attorney fee in the United States is extremely high. Starting with concerns over genetically modified crops, this note focuses on the problems of contemporary obesity litigation for damages in the United States. Obesity litigation against fast-food chains exposes the following problems: causation of negligence tort is eased and class action certification is likely to be denied. The former shows class action is a procedural device and affects torts of substantive law. And the latter shows class action becomes much more difficult in dealing with mass torts claims for damages. This note concludes class action for damages is not a good way to redress obesity problems, suggesting remedy other than damages is a plausible way to deal with the obesity claim.