Eat Burger, Waive Right to Sue
| Thu Jan. 31, 2008 9:07 AM PST
Mandatory arbitration agreements forcing people to give up their rights to sue are now standard fare in everything from cell phone contracts to Hooters' employment agreements. But the owner of an East Texas Whataburger has apparently taken arbitration mania to a new level. Every public entrance to the burger franchise displays a sign informing people that simply setting foot on the premises means that they are giving up their right to sue the company for any reason, even if, for instance, they get a little e coli along with their fries. Instead, customers will be forced to arbitrate their claims before the American Mediation Association, an organization that seems to consist of three lawyers in Dallas hired by the Whataburger (part of a 58-year-old fast food chain deemed a "Texas treasure" by the state legislature).
Attorney Dan Sorey spotted the sign in early January while in Kilgore investigating the scene of a motorcycle crash for a case. The Whataburger offered an ideal vantage point to study the intersection where the crash happened. Sorey says when he went in, he told a befuddled cashier that he didn't think that the arbitration notice was enforceable, that anyway he wasn't agreeing to it, and, "I need a taquito and a coffee." He says he sat down, watched some traffic, and ate his taquito. "I didn't choke, I didn't burn myself, and I didn't sue 'em," he reports. Sadly, while we suspect there is a good story behind the signs, the Whataburger franchise owner did not respond to requests for an interview. We'll just have to assume that the signs are the product of one too many late-night talk-show jokes about McDonalds' coffee lawsuits.
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Comments
Suing fast food because you are a big fat pig without self control has hit the sensationalist media a bunch over the years and been trumped by Limbaugh, Hanity and the likes? What they never say is that these cases eat it in summary judgment. Too bad the judges don't have the ability to execute these rotund scums (along with their not so fleet of foot legal teams) and feed them to the other sloths.
Now ? e-coli, someone giving "special sauce", dangerous working conditions, sexual predators ? that is all a horse of a different color.
Suing fast food because you are a big fat pig without self control has hit the sensationalist media a bunch over the years and been trumped by Limbaugh, Hanity and the likes? What they never say is that these cases eat it in summary judgment. Too bad the judges don't have the ability to execute these rotund scums (along with their not so fleet of foot legal teams) and feed them to the other sloths.
Now ? e-coli, someone giving "special sauce", dangerous working conditions, sexual predators ? that is all a horse of a different color.
Suing fast food because you are a big fat pig without self control has hit the sensationalist media a bunch over the years and been trumped by Limbaugh, Hanity and the likes
What they never say is that these cases eat it in summary judgment. Too bad the judges don't have the ability to execute these rotund scums (along with their not so fleet of foot legal teams) and feed them to the other sloths.
Now e-coli, someone giving "special sauce", dangerous working conditions, sexual predators that is all a horse of a different color.
Submitted by Cindy (not verified) on Thu Jan. 31, 2008 1:53 PM PST.
This reminds me of one of a column title Sports Illustrated has/had: "This week's sign the apocolypse is upon us." If I started to walk into a restaurant and saw a sign like that I'd eat elsewhere, and thankfully this isn't so common YET that one can't just eat elsewhere. As if I'd eat there anyway. Yuk. Sadly, if you waive your right to sue believing that there are tons of frivolous slip and fall cases, you also waive it for your e. coli poisoning.
Actually this has nothing to do with whether you are blind or choose to eat there regardless of the sign. A restaurant is an invitee. That means that they are held with some of the strictest standards in law. If you slip on their wet floor which they knew was wet, or get ill because they are practicing unsavory health standards, or are turned away because you are black, sue away. You can sue the pope himself, it just doesn't mean you will win.
Submitted by BloggerRadio (not verified) on Thu Jan. 31, 2008 4:39 PM PST.
THis is an easy one; just never frequent that greasy spoon.
If the nation should ever require an enema ... 'Tex-ass' is where the nozzle goes.
I would agree with the attorney. The arbitration agreement is not enforceable based on the Hooters case. An arbitral forum must provide certain procedural safeguards. If the "American Mediation Association" is an organization that only consists of three lawyers in Dallas hired by the Whataburger, it would not meet that standard and the "arbitration agreement" (if it could be called that anyway) would be unenforceable.
I am not sure of Texas or state-by-state... But simply because somebody puts up a sign does not mean that you wave your rights or are bound by it. That has to be done in contract and is not legally binding unless you actually agree to it. The only exception is when there is legislation that states otherwise, i.e. speed limit or parking restrictions
Note: By having read this post, you have agreed to wave your right to ownership of property and moneys and have transferred your property and moneys to my ownership. I now own everything that is in your name and all legal tender in your possession.
See - it doesn't work
The sad thing is: There are a whole bunch of right-wing-nut jobs who will look you in the eye and very earnestly profess that these types of illegal, unenfoceable, spit-in-the-customers'-eyes 'policies' are just what America needs to reign in the left-wing, commie pinko femi-nazi tre-hugging anti-Amerikun fags, and God Bless Amerika! Flipping idiots!
