Lawsuits: Broken Plate

[Leslie W Bartlett]

What about getting a metalurgist to make some kind of educated opinion?

Leslie Bartlett M.Mus

On Tue, 01 Apr 1997 15:40:21 -0500 (EST) Les Smith <lessmith@buffnet.net>
writes:
>My sincere condolences to your friend. This is every technicians
>night-
>mare. You don't say what kind of piano is was; whether it was an
>upright
>or grand; what it's age was, etc.--this may be important. Also you
>didn't
>say HOW MUCH you friend was being sued for, and whether this was a
>"small
>claims" action, or not.
>
>The first thing yur friend should do is to consulte with an attorney.
>Even
>if this is a small claims case, he can be represented by lawyer.It
>sounds
>like he will need one. As far as your testifing as to the condition of
>the plate, before it broke, seeing as how you never even SAW the
>piano, I
>don't think that your testimony would carry a great deal of weight
>(sorry
>about that!). A somewhat better approach might be to find someone
>quali-
>fied to testify to the value of the piano before the plate broke. Thus
>if
>this instrument was an old, neglected, no-name junker, it's value
>before
>the plate broke might have been minimal at best--say $100, or so. At
>the
>saame time, the owner by be suing for $5000! You might want to try to
>es-
>tablish the owner's cost basis for this piano. How much did he pay for
>it,
>or did he, perhaps, get it for free? Also, in court I would ask him to
>produce a service record for the piano, showing what kind of regular
>care
>and maintenance it has received while he's owned it. Once again, these
>are
>all things best discussed with a lawyer, and the sooner, the better.
>Good
>luck to you and your friend! I can imagine how he felt when he heard
>the
>plate let go. :(((((((((((((((((
>
>Les Smith
>lessmith@buffnet.net
>
>On Tue, 1 Apr 1997, Marcel Carey wrote:
>
>> Dear List & All
>>
>> A friend of mine who doesn't have access to this list is presently
>being
>> sued for a plate that broke after he attempted to tune a piano.
>> As he was checking about the condition of the strings by raising a
>few (not
>> even to pitch mind you), he broke 3 strings. So he told the owner he
>would
>> not tune the piano since the strings were too rusty. He replaced the
>strings
>> and left the piano as it was. He was almost out of the door when he
>heard
>> "THE NOISE". Now he is asking me to testify as to the plate probably
>was
>> faulty to begin with. I wasn't there so I have no evidence. I
>suspect he is
>> wright but I don't know how to go about this. I would like to help
>him and
>> was wandering if any of you had had that kind of situation before.
>If yes,
>> what kind of argument did you use in court, and, were they winning
>arguments.
>>
>> Thank's in advance for your input.
>>
>> Marcel Carey, RPT
>>
>>
>
>