Victoria McArthur

Fox News – June 27, 2007 via Overlawyered.com:

Starburst Fruit Chews are exactly as their name would indicate: chewy. But one Michigan woman says the candies are so chewy, they should come with a warning label.

Victoria McArthur, of Romero, Mich., is suing Starbursts’ parent company, Mars Inc., for more than $25,000 for “permanent personal injuries” she claims she sustained after biting into one of their yellow candy in 2005.

“I don’t know, maybe about 3 chews and it literally locked my jaw … and it just literally pulled my jaw out of joint,” she told MyFoxDetroit.com.

McArthur’s lawyer, Brian Muawad, says the candies caused her to develop a condition known as temporal mandibular joint dysfunction. McArthur says she has had trouble chewing, talking and sleeping since the incident.



  1. Mike says:

    What an idiot! This and $54 million pants are why this country is going to hell in a handbasket!

  2. RTaylor says:

    Not much of an attorney taking on just a $25K personal injury case. Even at 45% contingency that’s less than $12K. Remember all court costs, including witness fees comes out the plaintiffs share. Also any additional cost of recovery is incurred by the plaintiff. The plaintiff is responsible for costs, even if they lose. Compare this with the law firm(s) Mars Inc. will field.

  3. Kevin says:

    First the guy getting arrested for using WiFi, now this! Bah! Makes me proud I’m from Michigan!

  4. Getor says:

    Only in Amrica…..!

  5. BertDawg says:

    …waitin’ for bobbo to jump in here and furtherly assert that lawyers aren’t public enemy number one…

  6. knights_templar700 says:

    The American system is purposely set up for litigation. This woman is smart for using an opportunity that was granted to her. Corporations are not dumb. They have money set aside for cases such as this. She really needs the money. She found a way to get some. It’s all legal therefore it is not unlawful.

  7. Jägermeister says:

    Victoria McArthur, if you ever Google your name and find this post… I just want to let you know that you’re an idiot.

  8. Peter says:

    I wonder if she doesn’t have health insurance, so she needs to sue someone to help pay for treatment. If you don’t have health insurance, you can either cope or find someone to pay for your medical bills. Would be interesting to find out.

  9. JimR says:

    She’s a parasite living in the short and curlies of America. If Mars get bit, everyone else will feel the pain.

  10. Lauren the Ghoti says:

    #7 – knights_templar700

    “It’s all legal therefore it is not unlawful.”

    Guess again, my conspiratist amigo. ‘Legal’ and ‘lawful’ do not mean the same thing.

  11. Micah says:

    “McArthur says she has had trouble chewing, talking and sleeping since the incident.”

    Trouble talking, except to the press or anyone else that will listen to her story.

  12. bobbo says:

    6—Dawg, I don’t need no invitation, but thanks.

    I could say, I’m just damn glad Ann Coulter didn’t bring this lawsuit? Then go sit in a cave and wait for the man joke analysis.

    But “seriously” this is just another example of what is firmly established in our society==ENTERPRISE LIABILITY. Lets understand what is fairly obvious, or take it as a given for discussion==this lady was injured by the candy. Now who should pay for it? We have 3 choices

    1. The lady
    2. The entity that makes a profit from selling it
    3. We the taxpayers.

    Doesn’t matter what YOU think. The answer No 2. is well established in our legal system which is why for instance drugs are so expensive to develop.

    Only safeguard in this case is whether the jurors of judge will use common sense and kick her out of court. About 50/50 I would say.

  13. bobbo says:

    12—I’m honestly curious. What fine distinction exists?

  14. bobbo says:

    6===Oh, and by the way “lawyers aren’t public enemy No 1.” Its Congress and the bribe taking congrsspeople who populate its corridors. Not a single one looking out for our interests. Vote them all out.!!!!!!!!!

  15. hhopper says:

    A very fine distinction indeed.

    legal – deriving authority from or founded on law
    lawful – being in harmony with the law

  16. Lauren the Ghoti says:

    Question for bobbo:

    Just how many members of the United States Congress are not lawyers? Hint: you won’t need more than one hand to count them…

  17. Jason says:

    Well I did once pull out a filling in a Starburst, but I consider that my own fault. It’s not like I didn’t know they were sticky like that.

  18. ECA says:

    1.
    So many of us/we people have gotten out of HELPING or city/country/state/feds that Anyone can run for office, of some sort, and probably WIN.
    2. sence most dont understand the ABOVE point, think about the easyest way for a Lawyer to Find a job, and get a Background in Politics.
    3. Just Cause a Lawyer gets a job, in politics DONT mean he knows HOW to count.
    4. I would suggest that Many of you should look up the Life history and where ALOT of your politicians WERE BORN. Many didnt Live very near, until one of the parties Ran for office and needed a goat.

  19. bobbo says:

    17–A distinction without a difference is no distinction. Yes, different words can be used to define anything==but I can think of no situation where legal and lawful are not fully interchangeable. That means they are exactly the same. I have to remember this because “normally” two different words do have some shade of difference. I’m challenging you and Lauren because I’d like to knowl.

    18–I’ll use a fine distinction. Members of Congress are lawyers at all “while in Congress.” Yes, most have legal degrees and practiced lawyer before and will after their stints. So why not blame legal degrees, or for that matter, higher education for the evil?

    While most in congress are lawyer (sic) ALL are POLITICIANS (IE–power seekers, greedy corrupt souless cretins) put in a position to weild power. I’ll go with a universal attribute over a partial attribute when looking for the coincidences of corruption.

  20. bobbo says:

    21–re #18 first line, Most sorry–did proof it, missed it still “NOT lawyers at all”

  21. hhopper says:

    Lawful/legal. When you look up the definitions, each uses the other. I was just trying to find a very slight distinction.

    C’mon Lauren, let’s hear your distinction.

  22. bobbo says:

    23—In the etiology of the english language many words and concepts derive from English, French, and Latin Roots. English is further divided into anglo-saxon and norman roots. That is why English is one of the most complex, precise, communicative languages on earth, if not the Most.

    So–often we have 2-3-4-5 (more) words almost meaning the same thing as a result of their root words. Because we think with words, the area of “psycho-linguistics” is a fascinting study.

  23. Angel H. Wong says:

    From the mileage seen on her face I’d say she’s been sucking way to many fat penises in her lifetime.

  24. bobbo says:

    25—All this ganging up on lawyers is just getting stupid. Not all lawyers have fat penises. Puuleease!

  25. Frank IBC says:

    Bobbo –

    C’mon, you don’t seriously believe that you can get TMJ from chewing Starburst three times, do you?

  26. Lauren the Ghoti says:

    Illegal means ‘in violation of statute law, a constitution or precedent.’

    Unlawful means ‘not in accordance with law’. Usually applied to acts or entities that fail to comply with the requirements of a regulatory definition, but do not constitute an actual violation of statutory or constitutional law.

    Illegal is also unlawful, but unlawful does not necessarily mean illegal.

    It’s the difference between doing something the law says you may not do, and not doing something in the exact way the law says it should be done, if it is done.

    Semantics is a very subtle and tricky business, which, incidentally, is why it’s not possible to have “laws in plain, simple English” – because that’s how loopholes come into being, by using insufficiently precise language.

    bobbo – our laws are screwed. The laws are created by our legislators, who are almost all lawyers. This is not a coïncidence, take my word for it. The ones who don’t draft bad laws out of incompetence and stupidity (e.g. declaring π = 3.0) do so out of pecuniary self-interest, i.e. corruption and greed; neither motive is acceptable.

  27. Lauren the Ghoti says:

    #26 – bobbo

    “All this ganging up on lawyers is just getting stupid. Not all lawyers have fat penises.”

    How true. In fact, not all lawyers have penises of any size. Take Ann Coulter.

    Oops, bad example.

  28. bobbo says:

    27–Very seriously==if by you you mean “me”–no, I could not get TMJ that way. and by implication, I take it YOU could not either, and maybe 99.999 percent of people could not. The issue for the trial in this case of ENTERPRISE LIABILITY is whether or not this particular person did. Issues of foreseeability and contributory negligence are defenses here not present in other liability cases as present in all other economic activities. Again, and seriously, this case is good evidence why we don’t have better school innoculation programs. Same theory, different subject matter, thats all.

    28—you were asked about the distinction between legal and lawful but indeed as there is a difference between their oppossites, the subtlety must exist in their counterparts. Your understanding is confirmed here:

    http://tinyurl.com/yrjyus

    which confirms that when discussing legal terms, standard use dictionaries are no authority. If I had thought of their oppossites, the distinction might have come to me, maybe not.

    Now, even more to the point, the terms have more overlap than distinction and the issue arose by stating “It’s all legal therefore it is not unlawful.” Isn’t that true in all cases and therefore your comment while accurate was completely irrelevant? Again, I’m asking because I’d like to know? ((Actually if i can think of why, I will post again.))

    As to bad laws, is the solution to attack “lawyers”–ie, add some courses in ethics in law school or to their licensing requirements, or to identify the problem as congresspeople , lawyers and non-lawyers alike, who are wholly corrupt? The distinction is not subtle, not semantics. Keep your eye on the ball. Looking at Bush, Cheney, Frist, Delay==maybe it would be worse if they weren’t lawyers???

  29. bobbo says:

    29—Most excellent. A quadruple entendre if such exist. If not, you should copywrite the term with that example. What was that joke about penises and lawyers==something about a stiff neck, but I don’t recall.

  30. Mr. Fusion says:

    Other then bashing lawyers because you don’t have anything intelligent to pass on, what the eff does this have to do with lawyers?

    *

    The woman must convince a Judge that she has enough evidence that Starburst injured her. If she can not present some evidence that
    1) she was injured
    2)it was by eating a Starburst
    3)Starburst knowingly sold a dangerous or defective product (or should have known)
    then she doesn’t have a case. In many cases like this, if she can not produce minimal evidence then the case is tossed as frivolous, often with costs to the plaintiff for bringing a frivolous suit.

    Her lawyer either feels she has a very good case or would have advised her to forget about it.

    My personal take is she most likely already had TMJ. Chewing the candy should not have exerted enough force for her muscles to pull the jaw out of the joint.


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