A three-year legal battle involving Owens-Illinois Inc. and nearly 30,000 bottles of spoiled sparkling wine has come to an end. Twee Jonge Gezellen Ltd., a 300-year-old winemaker in South Africa is ab…
A three-year legal battle involving Owens-Illinois Inc. and nearly 30,000 bottles of spoiled sparkling wine has come to an end. Twee Jonge Gezellen Ltd., a 300-year-old winemaker in South Africa is abandoning attempts to recover up to USD 10 million from O-I in connection with problems with the vineyard“s 1994 vintage Methode Cap Classique. “We“re not going to go forward with it”, said Gary Mason, a Washington attorney who represented Twee Jonge Gezellen Ltd. “Our only alternative is the US Supreme Court. It“s not likely this is the kind of issue the Supreme Court would take up”. His statement came on 27 July 2007, one day after a US Court of Appeals panel in Cincinnati refused to reinstate the case against O-I, the world“s largest manufacturer of glass bottles and a leading industry technology consultant. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2006 by Judge Christopher Boyko of US District Court in Cleveland, who found that the vineyard waited too long to file the case. The case was transferred from federal court in Toledo to free up time for Judge James Carr, after he was appointed chief judge for the federal district that also includes Cleveland, Akron, and Youngstown. “We hold that the district court correctly found this action barred by Ohio“s statute of limitations and we affirm the district court“s grant of summary judgment for Owens”, Appeals Judges James Ryan, Martha Daughtrey, and John Ryan wrote in an opinion. After the 1994 vintage failed to ferment properly, the winery traced the problem to a manufacturing error at its bottle supplier, South Africa“s Consol Glass. After losing a lawsuit against the local supplier, the winery then decided to sue O-I, claiming the firm recommended changes in Consol“s manufacturing process that led to the problem. Twee Jonge Gezellen, which has been producing wine since 1710, claims to be South Africa“s second-oldest family wine estate.