Guy loses lawsuit over fly in bottle of water

Fri May 23, 2008 11:03am EDT
 
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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)

 
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