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Speaker 1: Now it's time for our daily Bloomberg Law Brief, exploring

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Speaker 1: legal issues in the news, and Today, Bloomberg Law host

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Speaker 1: Jum Grasso and Greg Sture discuss a lawsuit against Coca

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Speaker 1: Cola which was filed by activists who are comparing the

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Speaker 1: beverage giants advertising tactics to the tobacco industry's past efforts

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Speaker 1: and minimizing the health effects of its products. They speak

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Speaker 1: with Eric Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan

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Speaker 1: Law School, and Victor Schwartz, general counsel to the American

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Speaker 1: Tort Reform Association. Victor, you've you've mentioned that you don't

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Speaker 1: think this is a kind of a lawsuit that even

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Speaker 1: should be in the courts. But what are the plaintiffs

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Speaker 1: hoping to accomplish here? What are they asking the court for. Well,

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Speaker 1: they want to have an injunction against advertising, stopping it

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Speaker 1: advertising that they believe is inappropriate, and they want to

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Speaker 1: have damages that they believe resulted in adverse effects on

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Speaker 1: people's health. Eric, I want to return to the subject

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Speaker 1: of the tobacco industry and the comparison there, so, so

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Speaker 1: let me make the case for the plaintiffs here. They say,

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Speaker 1: This is just like tobacco. You've got a product that

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Speaker 1: sugar water. It has detrimental health consequences, and you have

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Speaker 1: a company that has been misleading the public about those consequences.

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Speaker 1: Where does that comparison go wrong in your view? Here's

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Speaker 1: here's one difference. If you smoked cigarettes, you you couldn't say, well,

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Speaker 1: I'm smoking a cigarette instead of something else, or you know,

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Speaker 1: if I smoke the cigarette, I can give something else

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Speaker 1: up and still be healthy. You can drink a can

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Speaker 1: of Coca Cola, give up a bag of French fries

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Speaker 1: and probably be actually probably be better off. Um So

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Speaker 1: in the tobacco thing that there was just sort of

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Speaker 1: no way. If you smoke cigarettes, you're probably gonna get

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Speaker 1: lung cancer. Here the here, the consumers have more choices,

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Speaker 1: but it's a dangerous comparison because if it holds up,

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Speaker 1: it could put Coca Cola out of business. Victor is

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Speaker 1: cope being singled out here? In general, when lossuits of

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Speaker 1: this kind or brought, they try to go after the

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Speaker 1: biggest what I call deep pocket jurisprudence, and that's part

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Speaker 1: of motivation, and it's expensive to defend these things. Nobody

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Speaker 1: can predict the futures, but at least based on my

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Speaker 1: stoff dealing with tourt log for now fifty years. UM,

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Speaker 1: I don't think this one will last, but it'll get

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Speaker 1: a lot of headlines and it'll get a lot of publicity.

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Speaker 1: That's Victor Schwartz, general counsel to the American Tort Reform Association,

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Speaker 1: and Eric Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan

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Speaker 1: Law School, speaking with Bloomberg Law host Jon Grosso and

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Speaker 1: Greg Sture. You can listen to Bloomberg Law weekdays at

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Speaker 1: one pm Wall Street Time here on Bloomberg Radio. Among

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Speaker 1: the top legal stories from Bloomberg Law, Donald Trump's new

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Speaker 1: hotel in Washington, d C. Has been hit with more

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Speaker 1: than five million dollars in worker leans. Woodworkers, electricians, and

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Speaker 1: the plumbing and heating business file the claims for unpaid labor.

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Speaker 1: The President elect has acknowledged that he doesn't always pay

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Speaker 1: all his bills. Trump has said it's often a negotiating

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Speaker 1: tactic when the work is subpar. Former m f A

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Speaker 1: Global CEO John Corsign has agreed to a lifetime ban

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Speaker 1: from the securities industry. That's settled a federal lawsuit that

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Speaker 1: he failed to properly oversee the brokerage as it plunged

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Speaker 1: toward failure. In Corresign also agreed to pay a five

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Speaker 1: million dollar fine. He's a former co chairman of Goldman Sachs.

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Speaker 1: Corresign also as governor of New Jersey and a U

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Speaker 1: S Senator. A federal judge has fined four of the

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Speaker 1: world's largest banks two and a half billion dollars for

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Speaker 1: manipulating currency markets. Now he wants prosecutors to go after

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Speaker 1: the traders that were responsible. City Group, Barclays, JP, Morgan,

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Speaker 1: and Royal Bank of Scotland had all pleaded guilty to

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Speaker 1: rigging currency rates. And that's this morning's Bloomberg lobbry. If

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Speaker 1: you can find more legal news at Bloomberg dot com

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Speaker 1: and Bloomberg BNA dot com. Attorneys will find exceptional legal

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Speaker 1: research and business development tools there as well. Visit Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Law dot com and Bloomberg BENA dot com for more

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Speaker 1: information