Posted on 10/28/2003 8:35:00 PM PST by Dan from Michigan
Aussie judge calls time on beer-top injury lawsuit
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SYDNEY, (AFP) - An Australian judge has thrown out a lawsuit by a man who claimed he suffered a permanent wrist injury when struggling to open a beer bottle.
Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Judge Geoffrey Graham dismissed the case after hearing expert testimony on the torque needed to manually twist off a bottle top and alternative methods for what Australians call "cracking a coldie".
The report said Sydney man Louis Miller had retired to the bar after playing tennis in the well-heeled suburb of Mosman when a woman asked for his help opening a bottle of Tooheys' Extra Dry beer.
Miller testified that when he held the bottle with one hand and twisted the top with the other a shooting pain went through his wrist that left him screaming with pain.
He appeared in court wearing a brace on his left wrist and his lawyers said the joint had never been the same since the 2000 accident.
Graham said he was satisfied Miller genuinely injured his wrist in the incident but found he had used excessive force when he could have used a cloth or bottle opener or simply selected another beer from the well-stocked fridge.
The judge dismissed Miller's negligence claim against Tooheys and ordered him to pay court costs.
The Telegraph applauded the decision which comes rising claims of negligence and public liability by increasinly litigious Australians.
"How much tuition does an ordinary Australian need in how to open a bottle of beer?" the newspaper said.
whatever floats your boat, but Australians prefer this
to these 
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