In an utterly ridiculous decision, the European Union’s highest court ruled Thursday that an airline can be held liable if a passenger is burned by hot coffee even if turbulence or other flight-related factors didn’t cause the spill.

The European Court of Justice said such injuries don’t have to be linked to issues typically associated with air travel to provide grounds for a passenger to seek damages.

The advisory ruling came in an Austrian case seeking financial compensation for a girl who had her father’s coffee spilled on her during a flight.

The insolvent Austrian airline Niki claimed that such mishaps needed to be linked to the flying of a plane for airlines to be held responsible.

The EU court said in a statement that “it is not necessary for that accident to relate to a hazard typically associated with flight.”

Eh?

So if you, through your own clumsiness, spill a hot drink over yourself and claim to be burned, or drop a piece of baggage on your head when yanking it from an overhead bin you can claim ‘victimhood’ and demand compensation from the airline. Brilliant!

The outcome of the girl’s claim will be decided by an Austrian court.

Let’s hope this one rules for the airlines.