Shoshone Coca-Cola Bottling Company vs. Dolinski
The defendant appealed the decision by the State of Nevada Trail Court which awarded the plaintiff money for his physical and emotional damages after the plaintiff purchased and consumed part of a Squirt soda which contained a dead mouse, hair and dung in the Squirt bottle. In order to hear this case, the state of Nevada adopted the doctrine of strict liability (Cheeseman, 2013 p. 110). The Supreme Court of Nevada awarded the plaintiff $2,500 dollars for his physical and emotional damages (Shoshone Coca-Cola Bottling Company V. Dolinski, 1966 p.859).
Issue
There are two issues in this case: “should the state of Nevada judicially adopt the doctrine of strict liability? The evidence of the decomposed mouse found on the bottom of the bottle could have been placed by another party other than the manufacturer or the distribution company. A time lapse exists between the time the bottle was capped off and the time it was placed in the hands of the plaintiff. Much of pursuing party’s injuries could be tied to other variables despite …show more content…
107). Both the manufacturing and distributing companies were held liable under the doctrine. Although one party may have been responsible for being negligent such as the manufacturing having the open bottle exposed and transportation having the sealed bottles, they both share the actions of bringing injury to the plaintiff. The question still exists on how the mouse ended up in the bottle. The testimony of the toxicologist can also bring more questions as to how long the mouse had been in the bottle because it can bring doubts on the data. If the mouse had been in the manufacturing plant, then an inspection may be required to be done at the manufacturing