A coughing Italian judge cleared a panicking courtroom when he told lawyers: "I've just got back from Mexico."
More than 30 attorneys in Rome told Judge Giovanni Barese they were boycotting the court and adjourning their cases because of fear of swine flu.
One lawyer said: "The judge coughed a few times, I don't know if it was from the flu or he was just clearing his throat, and then said he had just come back from Mexico.
"I've never seen so many lawyers agree on anything in court so quickly but we all decided we had to get as far away from him as possible.
"Maybe he hasn't got swine flu but no one was prepared to take the risk. He should never have even come into work. With so many people in a court room it would be an ideal place to spread it."
The judge agreed to see a doctor and has now gone into quarantine.
More than 30 attorneys in Rome told Judge Giovanni Barese they were boycotting the court and adjourning their cases because of fear of swine flu.
One lawyer said: "The judge coughed a few times, I don't know if it was from the flu or he was just clearing his throat, and then said he had just come back from Mexico.
"I've never seen so many lawyers agree on anything in court so quickly but we all decided we had to get as far away from him as possible.
"Maybe he hasn't got swine flu but no one was prepared to take the risk. He should never have even come into work. With so many people in a court room it would be an ideal place to spread it."
The judge agreed to see a doctor and has now gone into quarantine.
Family convicted over horse neglect
Five people have been found guilty of neglecting more than 100 horses, ponies and donkeys on a family farm.
RSPCA inspectors discovered the cruelty when they were called to Spindle Farm in Amersham, Buckinghamshire in January last year.
Horse trader James Gray, 45, and his son James Gray Junior, 16, were found guilty of 11 charges under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, while his wife Julie Gray, 41, and daughters Jodie, 26, and Cordelia Gray, 20, were each found guilty of two charges under the same act.
The animals were left to die of starvation in a "horror scene" surrounded by rotting corpses.
Vets who visited Spindle Farm described the situation as the worst case of animal cruelty they had ever seen. RSPCA inspectors found horses kept with little dry bedding and crammed into pens, ankle deep in their own faeces.
Hooves and body parts were also discovered scattered across the farm, along with a mound made up of bones and skulls. Bicester Magistrates' Court heard there were 140 animals at the farm, many of which were left with little food.
RSPCA chief inspector Rob Skinner said he found 32 carcasses in different locations when he went to look around. Some of these were burnt and dumped on a bonfire while others were left lying on the ground, covered in rubbish.
One dead horse was found on the back of a trailer with ropes around its tail. In total 115 animals, some severely emaciated, had to be rescued and removed from the site.
Mr Skinner said horses looked "dejected" and "emaciated" and some animals could not feed freely as they were being bullied by others. During an inspection he found horses in overcrowded pens littered with faeces.
And he said one pony was unable to stand and had to be rolled over so vets could examine it.
