Hey waiter, there's a fly in my water

[Gordon Nore]

Heard this on the news tonight. This went to the Supreme Court of Canada.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN2249337220080522

Canadian loses lawsuit over fly in bottle of water

Thu May 22, 2008 11:25am EDT
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the case of a man who said he lost interest in sex after he found two dead flies in an unopened bottle of drinking water.
Waddah Mustapha sued the bottling company, saying he had suffered psychological damage, including depression, phobia, anxiety and damage to his sex life after the unpleasant 2001 discovery.
He won C$340,000 ($343,000) in damages in a lower court, but the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that he had not proved his case.
"Mr Mustapha must show that it was foreseeable that a person of ordinary fortitude would suffer serious injuries from seeing the flies in the bottle of water he was about to install. This he failed to do," the court said.
Mustapha said he vomited after finding the fly and now found it hard to shower. He also said he was afflicted by visions of flies walking over feces.
Mustapha -- who will lose the award and must pay the costs of the case -- was not immediately available for comment.
($1=$0.99 Canadian)
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Janet Guttsman)

 

[MA-Caver]

Definitely one from the "how stupid is that?" files. Sheesh.
I can understand being disgusted at finding flies in my water bottle, but losing interest in sex? Having bizarre toliet dreams, unable to shower? ... I mean c'mon dude... that's stretching it a bit.

 

[Jade Tigress]

How do you not see a fly in a bottle of water before drinking it? It's an ewwww factor for sure, but, c'mon.

 

[exile]

Yes, I could understand losing interest in... drinking bottled water, say, as a result of this experience. I could even understand losing interest in writing to company executives describing what happened and receiving their phony 'We strive very hard to maintain quality in our product and deeply regret the incident you describe' letters composed by an algorithm working for minimum wage. But being afraid to take showers?? Or all the rest of it?? If that wasn't just pure fabrication, there must have been something amiss with this chap's mind long before this episode, to warrant PTSD-type reactions such as the ones described...

 

[stone_dragone]

I could even see him associating the water in the bottle with other water (say, showers and such). If he is afraid of the shower, I'd guess that it isn't his interest in sex that has disappeared, it's potential partners that have "dried up".

 

[Nomad]

It's nice to see in this increasingly litigious society that occasionally justice and common sense do prevail. Glad they threw his sorry butt out of court.

 

[Nolerama]

It's nice to see in this increasingly litigious society that occasionally justice and common sense do prevail. Glad they threw his sorry butt out of court.

Completely agree.

I'm not sure if this happens in the Canadian legal system, but doesn't this case leave Mustapha open to a counter suit against him?

Or is there a policy against frivolous lawsuits?

 

[Andy Moynihan]

****ed up as a left handed tennis helmet, this poor guy.

 

[tellner]

There's an old way of telling who has been at sea for how long.

If a guy finds a fly in his coffee...

The new hand will throw out the coffee.
The sailor will pick out the fly and finish his cup.
The old salt will just drink the whole thing.
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