This morning the Supreme Court released its decision in Mustapha v. Culligan of Canada Ltd., 2008 SCC 27. The case involved liability for a fly in bottled water and whether damages were too remote to allow recovery.
In the course of replacing an empty bottle of drinking water with a full one, M saw a dead fly and part of another dead fly in the unopened replacement bottle. Obsessed with the event and its "revolting implications" for the health of his family, he developed a major depressive disorder, phobia and anxiety. He sued C, the supplier of the bottle of water, for psychiatric injury.
The trial judge awarded him general and special damages, as well as damages for loss of business, but the Court of Appeal overturned the judgment on the basis that the injury was not reasonably foreseeable and hence did not give rise to a cause of action.
The Supreme Court agreed and the appeal and the cross-appeal were dismissed.
M's damages are too remote to allow recovery. As the manufacturer of a consumable good, C owed M, the ultimate consumer of that good, a duty of care in supplying bottled water to him, and it breached the standard of care by providing M with contaminated water.
The requirement of personal injury, which includes serious and prolonged psychological injury, is also met: M suffered a debilitating psychological injury which had a significant impact on his life. C's breach caused that injury in fact, but not in law: M failed to show that it was foreseeable that a person of ordinary fortitude would suffer serious injury from seeing the flies in the bottle of water he was about to install.
Unusual or extreme reactions to events caused by negligence are imaginable but not reasonably foreseeable. In this case, the trial judge erred in applying a subjective standard.
The claim for damages for breach of contract also fails. M's damages could not be reasonably supposed to have been within the contemplation of the parties when they entered into their agreement.
2 comments:
sue your water provider because of a fly in your water??? Sheesh, that's a bit much. Mind you, I wouldn't watch to see a dead fly in my water, but I'd probably call the customer service line and whine until I got some amount of free water. After the free water ran out, I'd change to a different water supplier. Pysciatric injury? C'mon.. if that's all it takes to put the guy over the edge, I'd say he was on pretty thin psychiatric ice before the fly incident!!
It's too bad the court's time (and taxpayer's money) was wasted on such a frivoulous suit (and the subsequent appeals).
Lithium and anti-convulsive medications such as Depakote, Lamictil and Neurontin are often used in combination to achieve mood stabilization.
They create stress, emptiness, avoidance of being in touch with your own authenticity, and narrow ways of dealing with life's challenges. Show them that you can listen without being judgmental.
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