Have it their way

We've all had that sad experience of ordering something from, say, a fast-food place, with memories of how wonderful that item looked on the TV commercial or even in the giant color picture hanging up at the restaurant. The bun looks fresh, the meat grilled to a perfect turn, the lettuce and tomato peek out invitingly, maybe there's a dabble of mustard and catsup...

And then you sit down and unwrap your lunch and it's like you expect to see a major-league baseball team, and the New York Yankees show up. Sorry, couldn't resist.

It only stands to reason that the companies make the food in the commercial look perfect. So why can't they go to the same trouble to make your Whopper look scrumptious and delectable?

What you order.

That's the crux of a lawsuit currently wending its way through the courts, and the latest is that a judge said "no" to Burger King when they tried to have a lawsuit dismissed - and the lawsuit says BK "cheated hungry customers by making its Whopper sandwich appear larger than it actually is."

What you get.

Not so fast, says U.S. District Judge Roy Altman down in Miami. He said the King must defend against a claim that reasonable customers were misled by the depiction of Whoppers on in-store menu boards. And that means breach of contract, because participants in this class action suit say the King pictures his Whoppers as having ingredients that overflow the bun, with meat patties 35% larger than they really are.

Burger King's lawyers, all of whom went to law school, say they weren't required to hand you a hamburger that looks just like the picture. The judge, who also has a law shingle hanging on his wall, is asking jurors to "tell us what reasonable people think."

In another courtroom across our land, McDonald's and Wendy's  are dealing with the same sort of suit in Brooklyn, New York's federal court, where just last month, Taco Bell was sued for selling Crunchwraps and Mexican pizzas that contained only half as much filling as advertised, according to the filing.

The case at hand is Coleman et al v Burger King Corp, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, No. 22-20925. I would love to go down there just to hear the bailiff announce that trial out loud. And maybe the jurors would dress in BK uniforms and hand down their verdict like they hand you a bag full of burgers and fries.