Question

It all began at a small bridal shower at Margaret River when Max brought some wine from Woodstown Wines Pty Ltd. Had he known the wine he purchased had plastic corks, he would not have bought that brand! Usually, after removing the wire cage, a firm twist is all that is needed to start easing the stopper out. That day was different. Max twisted, pushed up with his thumbs, twisted with all his strength and the stopper did not budge. There were no instructions or warnings on the bottle. Anna, the chief bridesmaid advised that usually all local manufacturers provide instructions on the bottle for the consumers who are unfamiliar with the type of wine and the removal of its cap. Max spent almost ten minutes giving it his best shot. Being unfamiliar with the plastic stopper, he turned the bottle up to see why the stopper did not come out. All of a sudden, the stopper discharged from the bottle into his eye and injured him.

What does Max need to establish in order to succeed in an action of negligence against Woodstown Wines Pty Ltd? Your response should consider and apply all the essential elements in proving a case in negligence, the remedies applicable if successful, and any defences that might be available to the defendant. You should consider the relevant legal rules, principles, tests, guidelines and propositions applicable under the common law and do not consider any matters beyond the law of negligence. Give full reasons for your answer and cite relevant case authorities wherever possible.

Answer 1

Negligence claims must prove four things in court: duty, breach, causation, and damages/harm.
1. Duty- It is the duty of any company to provide directions of using the instrument and duty of any wine maker to cite how to open this bottle. Why ? why just wine? That isn't to say that cork stoppers are bad. They allow the wine to breathe because their porous nature allows oxygen into the bottle, and other gases out. ... However, they are not good for wines that need to be aged as their seal is too tight and won't allow the wine to mature properly. Now a general way to open a wine bottle. Let's understand it.

• The label is the “identity card” of the wine. It s writes on it everything what your guest wants to know about wine: wine name, name of manufacturer, year of production and other information.
• When you have placed the bottle on the auxiliary table, you took the knife and cut the foil under the cuff links at the bottle s throat (about 1 cm from the top of the bottle). So the resulting “cap” has been removed. Next thing you should do is to clean the top of the cork and the bottleneck to remove any dust which is common on bottles that stood in basements for a long time.
• You should put corkscrew in the middle of the cork and be very careful not to break the cork, otherwise, cork parts could be fall into the wine. Small lever which is located next to the corkscrew should be put on the top of bottle with the left hand, and with right hand you should pull up the corkscrew. This is the easiest and most proper way to open the bottle of wine. Old wine corks are decaying, making it difficult to open.
• Removed the cap to smell it and check that there is no some strange or unpleasant smell which can be a sign that the wine is rotten.

But since if wine delays the person may stop buying wine from company so companies are seeking newer ways of solving this issue. And in our case the company made a plastic cork.

2. Breach- But the company forgot to mention the ways to open it. Since it was not the norm to keep plastic cork. Company should have cities it.
3. Causation- Now since it was citied and my client Mr. max spent 10 mins searching for the citiation he could find nothing. Because no such directions were provided.
4. Damages/harm- This caused the injury to Max's eyes.
Thus the company is liable to pay Max as the action of negligence.