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Fellow Weekly - Issue 144
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 259: THE LOAN SHARKS
Thousands of dollars regularly passed through his able fingers. Aaron Schmell managed a highly regarded Free Loan Society in the heart of northern Jerusalem. Schmell's integrity and responsibility earned him international trust and respect. Philanthropists and caring Jews across the globe, comfortably deposited significant funds under his jurisdiction for extended periods of time. In August 2012, sixty percent of his pool belonged to Josh Adler from Atlanta.
As a full line of potential borrowers streamed through his office nightly, Schmell held thousands of dollars in cash on hand; which he stored in a secure vault obscured in his home.
Tragically discovered by the underground; one night Aaron's apartment was looted. Destroying the vault, the thieves made away with fifty-thousand dollars cash.
- Was Aaron responsible to repay his depositors?
- To whom did the cash belong?
- Do his depositors divide the loss proportionately?
- Do we assume the cash belonged to Adler?
What's the Law?
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Last Week's Case
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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The Answer
We present you here with a concise ruling. For a more intricate elucidation, please see the detailed explanation below.
1. One may pay for his/her friend's seat and reserve it for him/her.
2. One may reserve a seat for a friend who intends on mounting and paying later as long as seats remain available for those who preceded his friend.
3. One may pay for his/her seat and allow a friend who will arrive later to sit in it.
4. One may not reserve a seat for a friend who will arrive and pay later, at the expense of a prior paying passenger. |
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Detailed Explanation
RESERVED SEATS invokes the following laws.
1. Borrower owes $100 to five creditors. Creditor A may seize $100 for him/herself.
2. Creditor A may seize $100 for Creditor B provided that Creditors C,D, and E will not lose through Creditor A's benevolent act towards Creditor B.
2.1 Two such scenarios exist:
a) Borrower has sufficient funds to pay Creditors C,D, and E as well.
b) Creditor A gives relinquish his/her right to seize $100 for his/herself, to Creditor B [Choshen Mishpat 105: 1-4].
3. Local custom and general understandings play significant Halachic roles in determining local accepted norms [Choshen Mishpat 331:1]
Application
Purchasing a bus ticket entitles the passenger to an available seat.
Paying for a place for a friend entitles the friend to a seat even if he/she mounts later. As such, the Sterns may pay for and secure a seat for Ari. Objectively, they would only be permitted to secure a seat for Ari before paying for it, if they do not leave a prior paying passenger without a seat, or one of them agree to give his/her seat to Ari.
However, if it is common for family members waiting at the same stop together to reserve seats for one another even before they actually pay for the seats, the Sterns may secure Ari a seat while having him pay fpr his set when he finally mounts the bus.
[R' Spitz, Mishpetei Hatorah] |
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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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