Damaged equipment, who is liable?

riggers1982

Good Afternoon

I am after some advice, last weekend we hired a function room for a party. The dj equipment (venues own) was apparently damaged by a drink being spilt accidentally by a guest at the party. The venue are now asking us nearly a week later to pay for the repair. Nothing was said on the night. We did not sign a contract or anything for the venue hire.

Do we have to pay for it?

Thanks in advance

societys_child

Sounds wrong, they should have their own insurance. Hmm, they might have but don't want to claim on it.

riggers1982

They have said they have insurance but dont want to pay the excess so repairing it themselves as its cheaper but want us to pay for it.

martinsurrey

riggers1982 wrote: »

They have said they have insurance but dont want to pay the excess so repairing it themselves as its cheaper but want us to pay for it.

ask them for their health and safety assessment of allowing drinks near the DJ booth, and the details they communicated about this to you before the event, and ask them to provide evidence that they marked a safe distance for your guests or warned guests to stay away from the DJ booth.

of course they wont have any of it.

seems they were negligent in allowing guests too close to their equipment.

then tell them to jog on.

bris

Just deny all knowledge ask them to prove it.


And just so you're aware they must mitigate the loss to you and that would include insurance they have in place, so tell them that's what it's for.

TonyMMM

The person who caused the damage is the one responsible if they were negligent in their actions - however, they can take action against you as the venue hirer under the principle of vicarious liability.

They would be arguing that you hired the venue, and are ultimately responsible for damage caused by your guests.... they may or may not succeed with that. Other factors might be dependant on what t&cs were stated at the time of hiring (if any) or what instructions were given about having drinks close to the equipment.

Who was operating the equipment - you or a dj ?

In the end, a court would have to decide - whether they will bother taking court action for whatever amount is being claimed, you would have to wait and see.

Or - you can come to an arrangement with them to pay some or all of the cost.

riggers1982

We were given no instructions or t&cs about the hire of the venue. It was their own dj operating the equipment.
Is the person who caused the accidental damage still responsible if they weren't told that they couldnt go near the dj booth with drinks?

sjbrun

Do you really need to be told not to go near electronic equipment with drinks?

Is it not common sense?

TonyMMM

It is a matter of were they negligent .... a court may well decide that spilling a drink onto electrical equipment is negligent, and would not expect that to have to be spelt out to an adult.

Have you spoken to the person who caused the damage and told them what is happening ? Another option would be to pass on their details to the venue and let them pursue them instead (if they choose to).

martinsurrey

sjbrun wrote: »

Do you really need to be told not to go near electronic equipment with drinks?

Is it not common sense?

TonyMMM wrote: »

It is a matter of were they negligent .... a court may well decide that spilling a drink onto electrical equipment is negligent, and would not expect that to have to be spelt out to an adult.

Have you spoken to the person who caused the damage and told them what is happening ? Another option would be to pass on their details to the venue and let them pursue them instead (if they choose to).

if the DJ is asking and allowing drunk people to approach the booth to request songs (and we have ALL seen that), then it becomes the DJ who is negligent, regardless of what is written he is giving drunk people consent to approach his equipment while blind drunk, and as a sober professional he should know and accept the risks.

unholyangel

martinsurrey wrote: »

if the DJ is asking and allowing drunk people to approach the booth to request songs (and we have ALL seen that), then it becomes the DJ who is negligent, regardless of what is written he is giving drunk people consent to approach his equipment while blind drunk, and as a sober professional he should know and accept the risks.

That would likely result in a finding of contributory negligence rather than the DJ being negligent and the guest not.

But of course, we don't know in what circumstances the drink came to be spilled over the equipment. Its entirely possible the DJ had no opportunity to prevent it.

In my personal experience (3-4 years working in a club as a student) a reasonable person doesn't carry drinks around on the dance floor/to the DJ booth with them - they leave them on the table.