If my drum equipment was left at a friends house I was jamming at for 3 weeks and he broke a cymbal, does he have to replace it?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
If my drum equipment was left at a friends house I was jamming at for 3 weeks and he broke a cymbal, does he have to replace it?
Asked on March 26, 2012 under Bankruptcy Law, Ohio
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
If your friend broke the cymbal intentionally, you could sue him for trespass to chattels which is the intentional taking or damaging of the personal property of another. Your damages (the amount of compensation you are seeking in your lawsuit) would be the cost of replacement.
If your friend did not break the cymbal intentionally, he would be liable for negligence. Negligence is the failure to exercise due care (that degree of care that a reasonable person would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances to prevent foreseeable harm). Your damages in a lawsuit for negligence would be the cost of replacement.
If he doesn't replace the cymbal and you file a lawsuit, it would be advisable to sue for negligence instead of trespass to chattels because with trespass to chattels you would have to prove that he intentionally damaged the cymbal. With negligence, there is no intentional act. It is just failure to exercise due care which is easier to prove. With negligence, you will need to prove duty of due care, breach of duty (failure to exercise due care to prevent the cymbal from being broken), actual cause, proximate cause and damages. Actual cause means but for your friend's act would the cymbal have broken? If the answer is no, actual cause has been established. Proximate cause means were there any unforeseeable, intervening acts which would relieve your friend of liability? If the answer is no, proximate cause has been established. Damages as mentioned above would be the cost of replacement. You will need to mitigate (minimizeJ damages by having the replacement cymbal be comparable to the broken cymbal. If your replacement is the most expensive cymbal you can find, your damages will be reduced accordingly. You can file your lawsuit in Small Claims Court. Your damages in addition to the replacement cost of the cymbal should also include court costs which are the court filing fee and process server fee.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.