Money Moral Dilemma: You broke it, would you pay to fix it?

geri1965_2

barrieh2 wrote: »

There was a case in America (where else) of a woman tripping over a child in a well known department store and breaking her ankle, she claimed and won over $100,0000 from the store, the punch line is that it was her own child that she tripped over. So this means the lady could sue McDonalds for her trip and pay for the laptop out of her compensation;)

On what basis was her claim successful? Do you know the name of the case?

barrieh2

Sorry no idea, it was an "and Finally" on the news a few years ago, it stuck with me because it was so silly but typical of American culture

tigre_2

Those people who wouldn't offer to compensate in some way or even try to claim against McDonalds should be ashamed of themselves:eek: They sound like the person who damaged my car in the car park and just left without leaving any details:mad:

Unless it was brand new and irreparable, a replacement would not be necessary but I would at least offer some compensation as it was my fault or come to some arrangement i.e paying the excess on insurance (if the laptop is insured) or paying for a repair.

It seems to be increasingly common that people don't think they should be responsible for their own actions. It's nice to see that alot of you would do the right thing.

ATT_2

tigre wrote: »

It seems to be increasingly common that people don't think they should be responsible for their own actions. It's nice to see that alot of you would do the right thing.

Its not that we are not being responsible for our own actions - in that strangers home, or even my own home I would replace the laptop.. BUT in public you are asking for it and accidents do happen - so why shouldn't the victim share the burden? I'm sure that if I went to sleep in the middle of the road it would be my fault if I was hit by a car, we can't just blame the driver.

Pinning it on the company - is the middle ground. What happens to people and property in the environment they control is on their shoulders. When we are not in public it is not public - e.g., break your leg on dodgy pavement and its the council that will pay, have a ceiling tile fall down and smack your noggin and its the store owner that has to pay.

I do hate compensation culture. But sure love hanging those faceless multibillion companies out to dry, problem with that, then sue me! (No make that MaccyD's).

David_Harrison_2

Have people noticed how the tables, the chairs, the floor, in fact everything in Macdonalds (even the food, allegedly) is made of plastic. There's a good reason for that - things get spilled and need to be wiped-up.

If you chose (i.e. it was a personal choice, there was no obligation for him to take it in there) to take an expensive machine into that environment, and are stupid enough (if you can afford the machine you can almost certainly afford the insurance and therefore it is only stupidity that stopped him taking any out) not to have insured it, it is your own responsibility to pay for any repairs that might become necessary.

David

Richard019

To take it into another situation entirely. It is pretty much a certainty that tomorrow somebody in the UK will be mugged in the street:

If I walk down the street to the bank using a bundle of £20 notes as a fan then if I get robbed I have to accept some responsibility for it happening. It doesn't change the fact that the thief is mainly responsible, but lets be honest I'd be asking for it by taking unnecessary risks.

If I walk down the street to the bank with those same £20 notes in my wallet which is tucked away in a zipped up inside pocket on my jacket and the same thing happens then it's unfortunate, but by and large it would be hard to put any of the blame onto me, I'd done all I reasonably could do to prevent it without changing the way I was living my life.

In either case, when I caught up with them I wouldn't accept anything less than everything back but that's due to the intentional nature of it. Generally though the same principle applies to accidents, it's not just the job of the 'culprits' to stop them happening.

If it were a simple case of clothes needing cleaning then it's a fairly nominal amount and I'd pay that as a matter of course. A laptop is a high value item and needs to be treated differently.

If the guy had sat in as safe a place as possible (ie a corner) then I'd be quite happy to pay his excess and a little bit more for the inconveniance as it was predominantly my fault.

If however he was sat in a high traffic area and it happened I'd expect them to take some of the responsibility as they'd not minimised their chances of being the victim of an inevitable occurence (the spilling in general rather than that particular circumstance).

As they don't have insurance it's going to affect things. Even if they've minimised their risk there's no way I'm paying the full amount of that value but I would offer to contribute (subject to seeing receipts for the work).

With no insurance if they're sat in a high traffic area then they're unlikely to get more than advice from me as that's just plain reckless.

As a further point, their conduct after it would affect their chances. If they fly off the handle I'll be inclined to just walk away and leave them to whine away.

Incidentally, we all know this is never going to happen to us (as the 'culprit') anyway. Which of us are stupid enough to leave our bags unattended in McDonalds whilst we go to get served? Any thief won't know the value, or lack of of the contents until they're two blocks away.

SueC_2

In a moment of absolute dizziness I recently smashed into someone's car, while it was innocently parked outside their house. Without even thinking I trotted up their driveway, knocked on the door, 'fessed up, and arranged for their car to be repaired. I was amazed firstly at how well they took it, but mainly at how gushing they were in thanking me for being so honest. The thought of driving off and saying nothing never even occured to me. Looking at my insurance Excess bill now, perhaps I should have!!!

v0id

I think the question should include why would you leave your bags unattended in Macdonalds so you were able to trip over them?

akingsail

Sorry, but I cant imagine anyone bright enough to own a laptop would be stupid enough to 'eat' in MacDonalds. However, assuming the hypothetical someone suffered damage to his/her laptop, they should expect some form of compensation but not 100% as they are partly to blame. Then again I would want compensation, just for eating in there!

harryhound

Today an army officer had his lap top stolen in MacDonalds:eek: