You don’t know Shana Becerra – – none of us do. Becerra, on the other hand, wants us to know her. In fact, she wants everyone to know she’s always been overweight. Most importantly, she wants us to know it’s not her fault.
You see, Becerra drank Diet Dr. Coke for 13 years – – and struggled with weight loss. Now, you’d think that after 12 years, Becerra would have investigated the reason why she wasn’t losing the weight. But no, she continued to drink Diet Coke. Until the 13th year, when she figured out what was wrong, drinking Diet Coke won’t make you skinny. For the first 12 years, Becerra was under the impression that “Diet” in “Diet Coke” meant it would help you lose weight. No exercise or counting calories required. Just drink Diet Coke, and you’ll be bikini-svelte in no time.
By year 13, Becerra realized she’d been duped. She figured out Diet Coke wouldn’t make her skinny. Well, that’s just not fair. And what does one do when they believe life’s not fair? Becerra filed a class action on behalf of herself and all the other individuals who felt that they had been tricked into drinking Diet Coke because it would make them skinny.
Now, when Becerra does things, she always goes “big”. She filed her case in the Federal Court with no less than five big-time class action attorneys working for her. Diet Coke, not to be outdone, hired its own big-time lawyers: Baker Botts, LLP. Those are the guys and gals who represented George W. Bush in the case that decided who would be President of the United States.
Now that we’ve lined up an impressive amount of high-priced legal firepower and gotten to federal court – – what was accomplished? Well, after a year of legal wrangling, the judge dismissed Becerra’s case because no reasonable person would ever believe that Diet coke would make you skinny. Becerra being the unreasonable person that she is, didn’t take no for an answer. She has filed an appeal – – so this story isn’t over yet.
The Food Lawyers® Analysis: We’re very happy that a bunch of wealthy plaintiffs’ class action lawyers, defense counsel from one of the highest priced law firms in the U.S., and a federal judge being paid $244,400 per year – – were all able to put their heads together and figure out that reasonable people don’t think drinking Diet Coke makes you skinny. This is the kind of cutting-edge legal work that is making society better as a whole.
Here’s why we should care: The plaintiffs and their attorneys suffer no penalty for throwing this kind of case against the wall to “see if it sticks.” We, as consumers pay the bill. We pay taxes that fund the court system and Diet Coke has to increase the price of its products to cover their attorneys’ fees and court costs. The Food Lawyers® think there should be a rule that makes the plaintiff reimburse the defendant for its attorneys’ fees when the case is as ridiculous as this one. It would deter senseless cases like Becerra’s and lessen the burdens on the courts and the public. More importantly, it would also make the U.S. legal system and lawyers less of a laughing stock.