Banana-Peel Lawsuits: Beyond Slapstick ; Slippery Fruit Is No Laughing Matter as Florida Court Takes Up Supermarket Cases

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There is something about a banana that makes us laugh.

For generations this delicious tropical produce has been at the center of one joke after another. From Charlie Chaplin to the Three Stooges to Woody Allen, bananas have propelled comedians into head- over-heels antics and won guaranteed guffaws.

But, alas, there is a dark side to the yellow fruit.

Just ask the seven justices of the Florida Supreme Court, who are mulling the case of two different women in two different grocery stores who fell victim - quite literally - to bananas.

It is a legal dispute that gives new meaning to the phrase "building a case on appeal."

Of course, …