-----
Original Message -----
From: David Cheifetz
Date: Friday, July 14, 2006 6:08 pm
Subject: RE: ODG: A Fly in the Bottle This Time
Ah
... Western Ontario, where men are men and some hair stylists
are, well, sensitive.
Apparently,
there are some Ontario residents who, on account of cultural sensitivities
or other (no doubt) Ontario-related failing, are predisposed to
compensable problems that our hardier residents are not. The trial
judge wrote
[211]
... the background of Mr. Mustapha in the Middle East, where
the devotion to and concern for the family is at a higher level
than is found in North America, and the higher level of cleanliness
and avoidance of insects practiced by this family than is usual,
including taking food to and from an outdoor barbecue in covered
containers, and covering the depressed top of the Culligan water
dispenser with a plate, to preserve cleanliness when the bottle
was removed. These things, in my view predisposed Mr. Mustapha
for the reaction that occurred.
Some
people who have been to the wilder parts of Toronto (say, northern
Rosedale or Forest Hill); or, perhaps, across the river from Windsor
to Detroit; let alone the Middle East and elsewhere, might wonder.
Once
upon a time, for another place, I wrote a doggerel summary of
the case (apologies to Robert W. Service):
There
are strange things done in the Canadian sun
By the folk who make our laws;
The judicial trails have their secret tales
That would make you more than pause.
The Canadian courts have seen strange torts
But as strange as I ever did see
Was the day in '05, when a fly that had died,
Won a lawyer a very nice fee.
It's
just past 6 p.m. on a Friday, here, and its pushing 31 Celsius
outside, so levity wins over wit or wisdom.
