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Fellow Weekly - Issue 143
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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CASE 258: Reserved Seats
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Ari Stern and his parents were heading North to the Golan for their vacation .
The crowd at the bus stop continued to grow fast and furiously. Those left behind would have to wait another forty-five minutes until the next bus departed.
As Ari loaded the luggage in the luggage compartment beneath the bus, Mr. and Mrs. Stern secured a seat for themselves and Ari.
Ari then pushed his way through the waiting crowd, sat down on the seat his parents reserved for him, leaving others standing before him in line, standing and stranded behind.
- Under what circumstances may one reserve a seat for a friend in a public area at the expense of others who may arrive at the seat before the friend.
What's the Law?
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Last Week's Case
CASE 257: Class Inaction Suit
As with the Tisha B'av weekend, this past Sunday, Maalot Online sponsored a live and interactive webinar with Rav Zave Rudman and Rav Dovid Ostroff on making the nine days meaningful. We charged the women a ten dollar admission for the event.
Adina experienced difficulty in viewing the classes. Either her internet speed was too slow or she was using Google Chrome which often does not support our system. In the detailed log in instructions registrants receive we suggest using a different browser. Nonetheless, that instruction was not in bold or made more prominent than other instructions.
Adina informed us that she was unable to view the program and asked if we could compensate her, to which we gladly agreed.
Pay pal charges 2.9% + 30 cents for every transaction. Meaning, for a $10 charge, Maalot Online receives 9.41 .
PayPal allows the merchant to fully refund the consumer but will nevertheless subtract 30 cents from the merchant's account as a service charge for the transaction gone sour.
Adina paid $10. We refunded her $10, and absorbed a loss of thirty cents.
- Were we obligated to refund her and if so were we entitled to return to her 9.70 or must we return $10 to Adina and absorb the thirty cent l
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.
If we can successfully establish Adina's case as a defective acquisition, Maalot Online must absorb the loss.
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Detailed Explanation
Class Inaction Suit invokes the following law.
1. It is the merchant's responsibility to retrieve the defective merchandise. The merchant assumes retrieval costs which should be expected and may not coerce the consumer into paying for its return [Choshen Mishpat 232:21].
Application If Adina's problem had a suggested solution it is hard to call the issue a mekach taos , a flawed or defective acquisition. Accordingly, Adina lacked legal claim against Maalot Online and the money was simply returned to make her happy. If the solution had not been suggested, and the issue would be deemed a mekach taos, [i.e. the promised product was not delivered, the merchant caused, or was unaware of the defect], Maalot Online must return the entire ten dollars and absorb the 30 cent cost involved in its return. ◆
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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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