Serious arm injury from exploding bottle of sparkling wine

Rotterdam court 26 March 2018

The fateful accident takes place when a woman tries to uncork a bottle of Moscato Spumante. This is a champagne cork clamped by an iron cap, attached to the bottle by metal wires. Suddenly, the bottle bursts, scattering shards of glass. As a result, the woman suffers serious injuries as a nerve in her left forearm is severed. The woman holds both the producer of the wine, who also bottled it, and the manufacturer of the bottle liable.

The court ruled that a product is defective if it does not provide the safety one would expect. A bottle, including one that, as is common with sparkling wine, is under pressure, can be expected not to burst if uncorked. That did happen here. In principle, it can therefore be assumed that the bottle is defective.

The producers' further defence is that the woman did not uncork the bottle in a normal way and that for this reason the bottle burst. The woman allegedly used pliers to uncork the bottle and she allegedly smashed the bottle against something. The woman disputes this.

The court points out that normal use of the bottle should be taken to mean all reasonably foreseeable use. In this case, insofar as a champagne cork does not detach from the bottle when pushed against it, it is to be expected that the user would otherwise apply force to the cork and possibly try to remove it with simple tools. Even if, therefore, the woman had used pliers, that would make no difference to the verdict. That the woman would have struck something with the bottle has not been made plausible in any way and, for an experienced user of such bottles as the woman was undisputed (she drank this wine, in these bottles, gladly and more often), is also not obvious. Both producers are each liable for the entire damage.

Tip: Don't let uncorking ruin your party!