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Fellow Weekly - Issue 83

WHAT'S THE LAW ™

Welcome to Fellow Weekly's

WHAT'S THE LAW?™
Encouraging intelligent and entertaining debate at your Shabbat table.

Fellow Weekly raises issues of business law and ethics through lively emails by featuring your real-life scenarios answered by our leading authorities and professionals.

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CASE 146: What a Wedding!

After a fulfilling and rich history of US military and civic engineering, 18th Brigade Vietnam War Veteran Oren Swift relocated to Israel.

The 18th Brigade mounted the "most ambitious engineering effort in Vietnam" at the end of January 1971. The Brigade engineers pushed a roadway across the rugged terrain of the northern Quang Tri Province to the Laotian border and constructed a 3,200-foot (980 m) by 60-foot (18 m) airfield in little more than a month at Khe Sanh. This construction effort was part of Operation Dewey Canyon II.

The Swifts settled alongside their charming grandchildren, amidst the warm Anglo-Saxon ever emerging community of Ramat Beit Shemesh. Oren's brood savored his company and his fun and innovative math games would keep his litter intrigued for hours on end.

Always an opportunist, Swift took advantage of the high profile temporary offer to join the CHSRP (California High Speed Rail Project); filling the post of Senior High Speed Rail Project Manager for the environmental and preliminary engineering of a 163 mile segment of the project.

A light traveler, Oren began the bi- monthly non-stop commute from Ben Gurion to LAX International.

Last week, Larry Sanders, a business acquaintance, asked Oren if he would mind bringing back to Israel a gold watch for his son-in-law to be. Oren graciously agreed.

Arriving in Ben Gurion, Oren unassumingly headed straight towards the exit . Suddenly, the customs officer called him over and asked what he had in his carry on. "A gold watch for the new bridegroom" "Please open up the bag." Oren opened the bag in shock and disbelief. Five gold watches! "How many engaged daughters do you have?" barked the officer!

"Open up your bags sir." "Are these ten mp3 players for the bridegroom as well?" "No sir. They're for my grandchildren." No sir, you meant they're for My grandchildren! The officer snatched Oren's passport for a minute, typed a warning note for the next time on to the computer, confiscated the watches and mp3's and sent Oren off.

"Larry! You've gotten me into trouble with the authorities and caused me a significant financial loss as well. I would expect you to reimburse me for the mp3 players and a punitive fee for the future distress I will expect to encounter next time I enter the country.

"Oren, I understand your distress over this matter. But let me just ask you one question. If I would have told you beforehand that there were five watches in the bag you would have taken it, right?

So it was all on your risk ... thanks for trying.

What is the law?

Please email us with your comments and answers at weekly@projectfellow.org.
Read next week's issue for the answer!

LAST WEEK'S CASE

CASE 145: The Baffled Babysitter Part IX: Care of the Aging

The party Morris Berger lovingly arranged in honor of Grandma's one hundredth birthday [See Issue 70]turned out to be a momentous family experience affording the cousins a rare opportunity to pay tribute to their matriarch, reacquaint with one another and come up with novel ideas to keep the growing family in touch.

Grandma's awaited speech was both heartwarming as well as telling of the advent of a new family challenge. After one-hundred years, Grandma's mind seemed to have begun to rapidly lapse.

Though rooted for decades in Baltimore, MD; Grandma had made it clear years before that she wished to spend her last epoch in Jerusalem near her granddaughter Mrs. Berman. Grandma allocated an additional twenty percent of her inheritance to Mrs. Berman for her newly assumed responsibilities.

Eager to honor her wish, Morris and his cousin arranged for Grandma to be comfortably relocated to a private studio off Mrs. Berman's apartment . Morris felt comfortable knowing that Mrs. Berman would be taking charge, though he still continued to manage Grandma's finances.

Though, a herculean responsibility and far from an easy task, Mrs. Berman felt lucky that she could attentively honor her grandmother in such a special way. Moreover, her four children would learn a lot growing up amidst such an extraordinary environment.

Mealtime was especially demanding, as vigilance over Grandma's proper pill intake was critical. Sara the favorite babysitter now began to stay longer and assumed a new responsibility.

One Thursday evening, while Mrs. Berman was busy peeling her mushrooms, Sara wheeled Grandma into the kitchen. After taking her position behind Grandma, Sara's stomach began to bother her. She stepped out intending to return in a few minutes. But it was too late. Grandma had reached for her meds and inadvertently took the wrong pill. Immediate medical attention was called to the house and after a few hours, the issues were stabilized.

Feeling terribly guilty about the episode, Mrs. Berman wished to foot the bill. "If I would have been more vigilant, this episode could have been avoided."

Morris argued that Grandma should cover the costs!

Who pays - Grandma, Mrs. Berman, or Sara?

What is the law?

The Answer

We present you here with a concise ruling. For a more intricate elucidation, please see the detailed explanation below.

While it may be a thoughtful gesture for Mrs. Berman to offer to pay, unless there were cleat contractual agreements otherwise, none other than Grandma must pay for her medical care.

Detailed Explanation

To answer this dilemma, we must appreciate the following two laws:

1. A trustee, is liable for the loss or damage of the depositor's movable property or livestock entrusted under his or her jurisdiction [Exodus 21: 6-14]

2. The deposit must legally transfer from the depositor's domain into the bailee's jurisdiction [Means of legal transfer include 2.1 Bailee lifting the deposit 2.2 moving the deposit into the bailee's property or 2.3 in a semi-populated area; positioning the deposit within the bailee's exclusive four cubit radius.] [Choshen Mishpat 291: 17]

Application

Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice was used throughout history as anti-semitic propaganda vilifying the Jew. Shylock allegedly lent money to his Christain rival Antonio setting his security at a pound of flesh. In a landmark Halachic responsum, Rav Sholom Yosef Zevin in Le'or HaHalacha proves from Maimonides and Shulchan Aruch HaRav that while the Christain courts honored the deal, such a deal has no Halachic basis and would never have been regarded in a Jewish Court of Law. Maimondies rules that a human being is not the legal owner on his body parts and has no right to sell a piece of his/her flesh or effect any legal transfer of ownership from one person to another. Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv renders a similar ruling.

All the more so, that parents do not own their children. Nor do grandchildren own their grandparents. Any rights of legal guardianship are limited to governing the minor's finances and the like. But the child or elderly relative does not become the property of the guardian.

The Torah prescribes the laws of trustees for property. A child or parent is excluded from these laws. Thus, barring any specific stipulations or local customs, Mrs. Berman and Sara are not responsible for Grandma's medical bills. Morris is correctI. The trustee bears responsibility for his or her accounting negligence and therefore must pay two hundred to both parties assuming each depositor claims to have deposited the higher sum.

Answered by: Dayan Chaim Kohn

Note:

Although we aim to present the correct ruling, varying details are always important and decisively influence every individual case. Our readers are thus encouraged to present their personal cases to a competent authority and not solely rely on the information provided.
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