The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota is suing Anheuser-Busch, SAB Miller, Molson Coors Brewing Company, Pabst Brewing Company, and other large beer makers, alleging the companies are liable for social service costs associated with alcoholism on the tribe’s reservation. The suit claims damages of at least $500 million.
“You cannot sell 4.9 million 12-ounce cans of beer and wash your hands like Pontius Pilate, and say we’ve got nothing to do with it being smuggled,” the tribe’s attorney said.
Don Surber wrote in the Daily Mail that $500 million would be about $100 per can of beer sold.
“In the old days, I would have called it a frivolous lawsuit except we just saw bankers agree to pay $25 billion to [a] million people who were behind in their mortgage payments. Suddenly in our world, moochers, freeloaders and welchers on loans are heroes. Why not alcoholics?” he wrote.
Source: Don Surber, “Sioux sue beer companies over alcoholism,” Daily Mail, February 9, 2012
Maureen Martin, a former legal fellow at The Heartland Institute, passed away on February 5, 2013.
