Lawsuits target alcohol industry

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20040514/ts_usatoday/lawsuitstargetalcoholindustry

Lawsuits target alcohol industry

2 hours, 41 minutes ago Add Top Stories - USATODAY.com to My Yahoo!

By Richard Willing, USA TODAY

Consumers' attorneys across the nation have begun to target the alcoholic beverage industry, filing lawsuits that claim that some leading brewers and distillers are using slick advertising to sell products to underage drinkers.

Lawsuits filed since November in Ohio, California, North Carolina, Colorado and Washington, D.C., appear modeled after cases that were brought against the tobacco industry beginning in the mid-1980s. Those suits focused on youth-oriented ads and sought huge damages for tens of thousands of underage smokers and their parents. The tobacco lawsuits led to a settlement in 1998 in which tobacco companies agreed to pay $246 billion to state governments to cover health care costs and other smoking-related expenses.

Some legal analysts say the alcohol lawsuits seem less likely to succeed because of generally positive public attitudes about alcohol and because research has raised doubts about a link between ads and underage drinking.

The lawsuits must also buck what some see as a recent backlash against using the courts to regulate consumer products such as guns and fast food. Claims against makers of those products largely have been unsuccessful, in part because of the difficulty in showing companies' culpability for products that can be used safely.

<more>

n/t

"The lawsuits must also buck what some see as a recent backlash against using the courts to regulate consumer products such as guns and fast food. Claims against makers of those products largely have been unsuccessful, in part because of the difficulty in showing companies' culpability for products that can be used safely."

Yeah, noone out here in reality land got the de-regulation memo or any of the large contributions from all of the protected interests that keep Congress and the prez in line. But don't worry, they're working on buying off the courts too.

When I went to see Kill Bill Vol 2 a few weeks ago, there was a JD commercial aired in the movie theatre that went like so:

Backstage door, hordes of fans wanting in. Up walks our cool couple, who flash a bottle of JD at security and are allowed to go back and hang with the stars.

Kids and concerts and booze already go together like chili and Tums. They don't need more encouragement.