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Fellow Weekly - Issue 113
WHAT'S THE LAW ™
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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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Spearheaded by Rabbi Myer J. Schwab, Dean of Bais Yaakov of Denver
THE RAV SHIMON SCHWAB ZT"L
CHOSHEN MISHPAT CHINUCH INITIATIVE FUND
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Case # 217 Cyber Monday Maul
Cyber Monday; the biggest on-line sale day of the year! Incredible bargains, no Black Friday crowds. No queuing on a line in the cold in front of stores. No pushing or shoving. What could be better? ... All from the comfort of his own desk! With a few clicks of the mouse; a lot of savings in the wallet!
David did a bit of searching and in a few short cyber moments found the bargain lap top he was looking for. The site was not familiar to him nor the name, but hey, there thousands of legitimate sites out there. This one looked O.K. In this tough to give up a bargain economy...
David slipped big time. Sure it was a bargain and he even got his lap top via the free overnight delivery...but he also got a virulent virus that infected his own desktop computer, deleted files, grabbed his Microsoft outlook address book and unwittingly spread it to all the addresses he had, whereby deleting hundreds of valuable files from his contacts.
How would Torah Law adjudicate this scenario?
# 218 Web Woe!
Web Woe! Anyone who uses a computer now knows of the need to have anti-virus software.
On Tuesday, November 1st, Aaron purchased a new laptop and had yet to install anti-virus software on his computer.
Josh sends out a weekly commentary on current events to select friends. On Friday November 4th, Josh sent Aaron a PDF file with his article.
Unfortunately, Josh's file had malicious software embedded in it. The software entered Aaron's Gmail address box and sent out an email to 100 of Aaron's contacts.
In the email, there was a link to a web site in China for buying cheap electronic goods. It turned out the web sites were illegitimate and simply collected credit cards numbers; later to use them for fraudulent purposes.
Twelve of Aaron's contacts discovered that their credit card information was then used to buy $50 worth of goods they did not authorize.
Is Aaron responsible to pay the $50- for each of the 12 people?
What is the law?
Please email us with your comments and answers at weekly@projectfellow.org
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Case # 215 Football Fury
Growing up in New York City, came along with many benefits and perks; not to forget - football fury in front of school on a barricaded one way street, decorated with double parked cars owned by staff members and block neighbors.
The senior class of 96's amiable rapport with their science teacher, Mr. Rose turned sour once Aaron inadvertantly tackled Benny through Mr. Rose's windshield.
Who must pay for the window?
Case # 216 Snow Slamming
Traveling at reduced speed down I-95, due to the falling wet snow, a car carrier and white Hummer inadvertently swerved into each other's lanes, sideswiping and causing each other significant damage.
How would Torah Law adjudicate such a scenario?
What's 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.
The boys are absolved from compensating Mr. Rose for inadvertently smashing his windshield (see detailed explanation). The car carrier and Hummer are liable for the damages they caused each other. |
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Detailed Explanation
Football Fury & Snow Slamming invokes the following three laws.
1.While Beit Din retains the authority to demand compensation for unintentional damages directly perpetrated by the aggressor's actions - when the aggressor could reasonably have assumed that such damage could have resulted [Choshen Mishpat 378: 7] - there are particular exceptions.
During distinct instances, our sages sanctioned involvement in specific activities within public property, which inherently encompass a compromised degree of caution, whereby absolving the individual from consequential unintentional damages [See Choshen Mishpat 378:8 for examples].
2. If A and B collide and actively injure each other or damage each other's property, whether intentionally or unintentionally, while walking legally in public property, they are liable for the damages they cause to one another [Choshen Mishpat 378: 7, 221: 8 Rema].
3. If A and B damage each other, either personally or via their property, the greater damager subtracts the value of the lesser damage and compensates the difference to the lesser damager [Choshen Mishpat 402:1].
Application
Football Fury When involved in playing football, a player's degree of caution for surrounding property is naturally compromised. Generally, however, a player in a public city street would be liable nevertheless for damages to parked cars because the city street is given for parking cars and not for football playing.
However, when a local municipality issues a school a permit to close off the street to through traffic, allowing the students to play ball in the street, the municipality essentially grants the players the right to involve themselves in an activity encompassing a compromised degree of caution. As such, the players would be absolved from paying for unintentionally damaging Mr. Rose's windshield.
Snow Slamming: Both the car carrier and the Hummer were abiding by the law and driving in their respective appropriate lanes at reduced speeds due to the compromised weather conditions. Nevertheless, they both unintentionally actively damaged one another's property and are liable for the damage incurred.
Practically speaking, we would assess the damages suffered by the carrier and the Hummer, subtract the difference between the greater and lesser value and demand the greater damager to pay the difference to his/her counterpart.
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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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