In august 2002 a group of overweight children in New York City filed a class-action lawsuit against McDonald’s Corporation seeking compensation for obesity-related health problems, improved nutritional labeling of McDonald’s products, and funding for a program to educate consumers about the dangers of fast food.1 This litigation provoked an intense, mostly negative response in the news media and the court of public opinion.2 Columnists called the case a “cartoon of a lawsuit” and suggested that it was the lawyers who were poised to “get fat” on McDonald’s.3 The case showed up in fifth place on Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse’s “Best of the Bizarre” for 2002, one spot behind the Montana man who changed his name to Jack Ass and then sued the makers of the TV show Jackass for harming his reputation.