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Fellow Weekly - Issue 95
WHAT'S THE LAW ™
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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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This week's Newsletter is sponsored by friends of
Rabbi & Mrs. Yosef Y. Ettlinger
in honor of their newborn son this past Tuesday.
May he bring much Torah light, happiness, and peace to the world.
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Together...for a better world
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CASE 195: It's a Boy
Mrs. Greenfield hired Doula Fried, to assist her in delivering her newborn. Early, Tuesday morning, Mrs. Greenfield sensed that the awaited time was imminently approaching. In general though, Mrs. Greenfield upheld a history of elongated ordeals.
In contact throughout the morning with Duola Fried; she was assured that history was repeating itself and time was on her side. The thought of hours of work simply tired her out. ...when suddenly her room was filled with the delightful charm of promising life. Doula Fried missed the birth!
Is Mrs. Greenfield required to pay Duola Fried?
What is the law?
Please email us with your comments and answers at weekly@projectfellow.org.
Read next week's issue for the answer!
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Case # 194: Of Spectacles and Sofas
Spectacles: Her shopping cart piled high with groceries galore, Mrs. Else Wagner slowly edged her way through the Wednesday afternoon mayhem in Sandor's Supermarket with her charming great-grandson Marty at her side. Her energetic and positive demeanor served as a remarkable lesson for little Marty.
All of a sudden, a clique of hyperactive teenagers came barging in to the store while tossing their basketballs to and fro. Caught between the crossfire, Marty's inimitable glasses were knocked off his face and came crashing down to the floor splitting in two.
Marty's Mom had obtained his blue glasses two years ago at a 50% off sale and paid $50 for them. Though the prescription was still good, the frames by now bore witness to two years of football in the playground. Nonetheless, Mom had no intention of replacing them anytime in the near future. Yet, by now the market for glasses had sharply increased and he cost of replacing them would run about $300.
How much should the teenager who threw the ball pay?
Sofa: Carry's designer sofa was one of a kind. She purchased it for $1500 at The Furniture Fellows in Bergen County and brought the sofa from America on her lift to Beit Shemesh, Israel. Spring cleaning in the air, Carry hired Simon The Sofa Sweeper to clean her couch. Sofa Sweepers brought down their equipment and dutifully tended to the job at hand.
Looking over their work as they were readying to leave, Simon became horrified! Across the seat were black streaks! The color of the material had run. Looking on the bottom of the couch, Simon detected a warning notice with the words, "Do not use water."
Carry was far from excited. "Please remove this couch immediately and replace it with one exactly the same." Simon researched for the couch and found only one store in Haifa which sold that couch...but for 15,000 NIS (equivalent to roughly $4,451).
What does Simon owe Carry?
What is the law?
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The Answer
We present you here with a concise ruling. For a more intricate elucidation, please see the detailed explanation below.
See Detailed Explanation |
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Detailed Explanation
Of Spectacles and Sofas implicates the following laws.
1. An article's value is figured at its fare local and present market value irrespective of the initial purchase price [Mishna 6:5, Tosefta 4:3 Maseches Erachin].
2. Unless local custom differs (e.g. insurance policies), damages of used items are assessed by the depreciation of the entire article [Minchas Yitzchak 3: Responsa 126]. When the damage is normally repaired, the damage value is the cost of the repair [Chazon Ish: Maseches: Bava Kama 6:3].
3. Used personal objects often lack a market value (i.e. people do not buy used spectacles). How do we figure damage assessment? Jewish Courts consider the market value at purchase time, and subtract a percentage per year of usage, while attributing a higher percentage to the earlier years of usage. For argument's sake; a new pair of glasses are valued at $325. If the owner would generally wear them for three years, at the end of a year; the glasses might depreciate $125 and $100 each subsequent year [Imrei Yaakov: Nezikin 8].
Application
Although, the used glasses have no market value; Jewish courts would ignore the replacement value and rather consider the pair's purchase value (not sale price) and subtract a percentage per year used,
If in Israel, the sofa sells for 15,000NIS, ($4,450) new; the damage assessment for this sofa will be based upon the value in Israel. |
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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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