A flying shrimp cost a Long Island man his life, court papers charge.

Jacqueline Colaitis, the widow of fur magnate Jerry Colaitis, says in a $10million lawsuit that her husband died as a result of injuries he suffered dodging a piece of shrimp flung into the air by a “playful” chef at a Benihana restaurant.

“This was a man who was in good health until this incident,” said Colaitis’ lawyer, Andre Ferenzo. Ducking the shrimp, however, caused a neck injury that required an operation – and the operation caused an infection that took Colaitis’ life, Ferenzo said.

“He would not have died if not for his injury,” the lawyer said.

Benihana lawyer Andrew Kaufman said his client “has aggressively defended this lawsuit from the outset, and expects to be vindicated from these claims, either on appeal or at trial.”

In their court papers, the famed restaurant uses a blame-the-victim defense – suggesting Colaitis was not dodging the shrimp, but was hurt trying to catch one with his mouth.

The judge presiding over the case, Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Roy Mahon, has declined the restaurant’s bid to throw the wrongful-death claims out for the time being, finding “there is an issue of fact as to whether the events of Jan. 27, 2001 were the proximate cause of Jerry Colaitis’ death on Nov. 22,” 2001.

Colaitis, who used the name “Jerry Cola” professionally, co-owned several fur stores and lived in a three-story palatial estate in a tony section of Old Brookville.

Ferenzo said Colaitis, 47, had gone to the eatery’s Munsey Park branch with his two sons, his wife, her four daughters, and other relatives to celebrate one of his young son’s birthdays.

They were seated at one of the restaurant’s famed hibachi tables, where customers can watch their flashy chefs cook their meals directly in front of them. Ferenzo said the chef who was preparing his clients’ dinner was trying to put on a show – but it soon turned dangerous.

“He started tossing the food and was flinging cooked shrimp. The first one hit [Colaitis’] son and burned him. It was hot,” Ferenzo said.

The judge’s decision says the chef continued to toss shrimp after being asked to stop, “throwing/tossing a piece of shrimp at [Colaitis] towards his head. [Colaitis] moved/jerked his head out of the way allegedly resulting in injury to his neck.”

Colaitis underwent two surgeries that June, but suffered an infection.

The judge’s decision said he was rushed to a Long Island hospital on Nov. 20, 2001 “with a diagnosis of, amongst other things, septic shock, respiratory failure and [kidney] failure.”

He died two days later.

Benihana contends the alleged injury was “too remote” from the time of the surgery for it to be blamed for Colaitis’ death. Kaufman said his client was “disappointed” with Mahon’s decision.