(McClatchy-Tribune Information Services)

 
Eighty-three-year-old Oscar Weller survived two wars unscathed, but believes he was nearly done in by a bottle of prune juice.

The Grants Pass resident is suing a California juice company, a packaging company and Walmart for injuries he sustained after a bottle of Sunsweet Prune Juice blew up in his face last winter.

In all, Weller is seeking damages of up to $150,000 from the three companies for pain and suffering.

Weller said he bought the juice, which is contained in a plastic bottle, at the Grants Pass Walmart in February 2010. He brought the juice home and placed it in his refrigerator and retrieved it later that day.

Weller said he has trouble gripping the top of the bottle, so he turned it upside down to twist it from the bottom.
He went to twist the bottle and next thing he knew he was sprawled out on his kitchen floor. "It exploded and hit me right in the face," Weller said. "It knocked me down to the floor. It was like getting hit by a ball bat. Prune juice hit the ceiling. It was all over the place."

Pictures taken soon after the incident show Weller with two black eyes and a swollen face. "I looked like a raccoon," he said.

The lawsuit alleges Weller's left eye was damaged by plastic shards. He also suffered injuries to his hand and face.
Weller said he was temporally blinded by the exploding bottle, but his left pupil is permanently damaged and he now has "floaters" in his field of vision. His attorney, Kelly L. Andersen of Medford, filed a federal lawsuit against Walmart, Sunsweet Growers Inc. of California and Graham Packaging Co. of Delaware.

The suit derides these companies for not warning consumers of a possible danger when purchasing the prune juice. It also said the juice bottle was defective and the liquid inside was improperly fermented, causing gas to build up inside the bottle.

None of the companies named in the lawsuit were available for comment.

Weller, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, said he did not file the lawsuit to score a cash settlement.
"I'm not out to make money," he said. "I just don't want some other bugger to get it in the face."
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(c)2011 the Mail Tribune (Medford, Ore.)
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