I do agree the U.S has a problem with rather frivulious lawsuits over "not following the letter of the law" or "wasn't mentioned in the safety manual to not do this thing that should have been common sense".
If I remember correctly though, the silliness of the above is actually due to a law about packaging must contain allergen information for certain common allergies. This means even peanuts must contain the label in order to comply with the law. Rather than list exceptions and complicate the law, it applies broadly to everything.
IANAL, I may not be remembering this fact 100% correctly.
How oddly specific....were you referencing this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMH8Tof69SE
I do agree the U.S has a problem with rather frivulious lawsuits over "not following the letter of the law" or "wasn't mentioned in the safety manual to not do this thing that should have been common sense".
It seems when people think "American legal system" things like this come to mind: http://i.imgur.com/D7aP2bT.png
If I remember correctly though, the silliness of the above is actually due to a law about packaging must contain allergen information for certain common allergies. This means even peanuts must contain the label in order to comply with the law. Rather than list exceptions and complicate the law, it applies broadly to everything.
IANAL, I may not be remembering this fact 100% correctly.