Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with damages

Does anyone watch FX's show "Damages"? If so, who WAS that guy...?

newfers — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:43:55 -0800

On the February 11th episode of FX's show "Damages", I saw an actor in a small part, who I know from another show, but I'll be damned if I can remember him, and I missed the credits! In the scene where Ellen returns to the apartment she shared with her fiance before his murder, a neighbor walks into the apartment to hand Ellen a gift that had arrived in the mail.

The actor who played this part looks terribly familiar, and I just cannot find any information online as to who it was. I'm sure that when I find out who he was, I'll slap myself on the forehead and go "of course!", but for now, I am drawing a total blank...

Help me relieve this mental indigestion, mefites, please!!

If I broke my car on the job, do I have to foot the bill?

dearest — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:07:18 -0800

I broke my car driving to a location, for work. I just got the bill and it's nearly $900 to fix it. What sort of recourse can I take as far as company reimbursement is concerned? If so, how do I approach this discussion? I'm not usually included on video shoots because it's not my department at the ad agency where I work. This time it was mandatory that I be there, and had to drive myself to the locations.

Long story short I ended up doing a fair amount of damage to my already frail '99 VW Beetle en route to a shoot location. I had to have it towed to the mechanic the next morning as the shoot ended at 3am.

This was a shoot for a non-paying account, so there was no budget to work with nor was there any revenue generated from this project. I wasn't getting any additional pay for my extra hours on the job. It's a small agency, (<15 people.) I don't get paid very much at all. I'm not high up in this company. I've been there 1 1/2 years now.

I've told my bosses how much it will cost to repair my car in order to open the door for them to offer to cover some of the cost of repairs. No one has said anything except, "that sucks."

I'm pretty frustrated as I didn't even want to be at this shoot and now it's going to cost me $900!!!

Does the company have to help me since it happened during a shoot that while work related? Am I crazy to even think about expecting some reimbursement? How else can I look at this situation?

Give me money. The judge said so.

Listener — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:53:29 -0800

How collect damages award after winning court case? Friend of mine recently (oh, how I wish it were me!) won a surprisingly large damages award in Supreme Court here in BC. We don't think the defendant has much money, but even if he has anything stashed away, how do we get it? And I'm going to file a dispute against my ex-landlord shortly at the Residential Tenancy Branch (quasi court) and if I win he's not going to want to pay either, but the bugger owns a couple million dollar building, so that is a good thing. I believe I can get the Provincial Court to enforce the order (my, I'm jumping ahead) but what else? How would we proceed? Any ideas? What works to put pressure on these people? Can they just evade and ignore easily or not?

what's a broken iBook worth?

anadem — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:34:38 -0800

A repair shop destroyed a non-working iBook. What would be a reasonable recompense? My hard-up student daughter took her mostly-dead iBook for repair (screen went fuzzy while booting, and the boot-up didn't complete). She paid $100 up front for diagnosis. The shop said they thought the cause was broken video cable connection, and quoted $275 to try to repair it (including the $100 diagnosis fee) but said they were not sure that would fix it.

My daughter declined, deciding to have me try to repair it (I'd recently replaced my Powerbook's power card), but left the iBook in the shop several weeks. When she collected the unrepaired machine she saw two or three keytops and the vent screen were missing; for that reason the shop later refunded the $100 diagnostic fee.

A couple of months later (last month), I opened up the iBook case to get some files off the hard disk, and to prep for repair. Inside it's a mess: parts missing and parts broken (details below.) It looks as though someone just threw some parts into the case then shut it, after cannibalizing it. The machine as returned by the shop is utterly beyond repair.

We sent two letters (the second by certified delivery) listing the damage details and asking the repair shop owner to propose a settlement, but had no response whatever. So we're thinking my daughter should send the shop a bill and then to go to small claims if necessary.

Ads for similar used (but working) iBooks ask $250 to $500. How much should we bill the repair shop? Is it reasonable to ask for extra beyond the value of the broken machine? Or to charge for my time (I'm a software engineer of 20+ years)? At a minimum they should surely pay for the parts they did not return. This is in California. Should we contact the BBB?

The machine:

12" iBook G3; 800 MHz, 40GB HD, 640 MB RAM; DVD/CD ROM; Airport card; OSX 10.4

The damage:

Missing: 512 MB add-in RAM; Airport card; modem; heatsink; hard drive connector & ribbon; optical drive ribbon; motherboard-to-power-card cable; all motherboard mounting screws; other small parts;

Broken: chassis has big pieces broken off and missing; optical drive is damaged several different ways.

If an insurance adjustor gives an estimate twice what's expected, should I worry?

SeizeTheDay — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:48:47 -0800

What happens if an insurance adjustor gives you an estimate that's twice as large as the original body shop estimate you got before the adjustor saw the damage? A friend was in an accident. This friend called the insurance company, but the company wasn't able to get an adjustor to look at the car until a few days after the accident. In the meantime, this friend got a couple of body shop estimates, just to get an idea of the damage. Anyway, body shop came in at $1500, insurance adjustor came in at $3000. My friend's car is basically brand new and is only in the second year of making payments.

Is there anything weird going on? Should my friend worry about the rather large bill (that my friend won't pay anyway because my friend has a deductible) in the future? Should my friend be worried about having a rather large claim being filed on the car when trying to sell it, should that be necessary?

Is it worth trying to lower the actual amount fixed (i.e. some things aren't mechanically necessary and very minor cosmetic damage) so that in the future a potential buyer of the car doesn't get scared away by such a large fix?

More importantly, since my friend isn't actually worried, am I worried over nothing?

A minor fender bender. Will it ruin our lives?

TwilightKid — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 09:49:03 -0800

About a month ago, my pregnant wife and I were in a minor fender bender on Rt. 202 in NJ. The woman before us stopped short, and we hit her going about 20 mph. This wasn't our fault. Their wa sa police car who made an erratic turn at the merge of the road that cause a few cars in front of us to swerve and or strop short at the time. The mini-van had a minor scratch and bump. Our jeep had no damage..... I don't know the full details of the law, but NJ law seems to say that the person who hits from behind is automatically at fault. Period. We both get out of the car. While we are a bit shaken up, due to her being 6 months pregnant, she feels fine physically. The woman we bumped into said she was fine as well.

She didn't want to exchange insurance info initially, but we did so anyways. We pull over and call our insurance company right away to just get everything on record, just in case....

A few hours later, the woman had contacted the agency as well and filed a claim....Yadda Yadda. In the end, our insurance company paid out $700. Since my wifes insurance has been spotless, our rates are not going up and she remains on the preferred drivers list. case closed, so we thought.

Today, we get a call from our insurance company stating that the woman has gotten a lawyer and is now going after a medical payout....

Thats all we know so far....And we are a bit scared...The insurance guy gave us assurance that we are in good hands and that they will fully investigate every claim before paying out. He said that we do not need a lawyer at this point. And based on the minimal damage to her vehicle, they will heavily look at the amount of $$ she is looking to collect. Of course, our insurance agency will do the payout, but we are then not sure how it will affect us or our rates...Or, can she come after us, personally? We just bought a house? How bad can this get? It was a tiny scratch on her car...

We have been told to remain calm, but we are scared cause we don't know how bad it can possibly get.....Is the NJ law about people from behind being automatically at fault so air tight, that we couldn't consider a counter suit against this woman? Is there anything we can do in regards the pregnancy? Are we screwed and at the mercy of the insurance companies and the lawyers at this point?

Not sure what I'm really asking here..Just looking for some insight.....

much thanks....

Should I sue or should I pay up?

electroboy — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:55:42 -0800

Should I sue or should I just eat it? Long story short, my old apartment complex thinks I owe them money for damages, summarized here. I disputed with no results, they referred it to a collection agent and now they've dinged my credit. They want $700, I want my $200 security deposit back. I have several questions:

1. Is it worth it to take it to small claims?

2. If I just pay the collection agent, is there anything special I need to do to ensure that my credit is no longer affected?

3. Will a ruling against them for the security deposit nullify their claim for damages?

4. My brother and I were both on the lease (jointly and severally liable). He's out of town frequently and otherwise swamped with his new business. Can I represent him at trial?

5. If they've sold the debt to a collection agent (as opposed to having the agent collect on their behalf), does this complicate the process?

I recognize that none of you are my lawyers and your responses are not legal advice.

Water company ruined our weekend cottage?

cainiarb — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:06:43 -0800

Water company ruined our weekend cottage?

When we leave our weekend cottage we turn the water off at the meter and open the faucets in the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, and shower. This is to prevent any trapped water to remain in the pipes which could freeze and burst the pipe should we not make it back before winter. We've done this for four years. June 2006 – one of the neighbors failed to pay his bill (he's often gone 2-3 months at a time with his work). He gets back to town, settles up with the water company, asks to have his water turned back on and leaves town again. August 2006 – we get a water bill for $1122. We call the water company and a neighbor. The neighbor has a key and goes into our house to find the water pouring into the drains from the wide-open faucets. The water company shows up while the neighbor is there and tells her they turned on the wrong water. The water company credits our water bill and the next water bill for $435. They tell us they don't have someone they can send out to inspect the damages but for us to take pictures and let them know what the repair costs will be and they will "see what they can do." We make the 10 hour trip to inspect the damages – all the cabinets, doors, and furniture are warped from having seven weeks of humidity in the house (no a/c running while we're gone). There is black mold growing on the walls. We call a company that does restoration work for fire and water damage. The cost to clear the house of the mold will run $10K. They will rip out walls, ceilings, flooring, bathroom fixtures, etc. They will treat the studs and ensure all mold is gone. Then comes the restoration process which will be another $50K.

We send the estimates to the water company and their attorney notifies us that they "own the meter" and have "exclusive rights to the meter and shut off valve." The Water Company had asked us to let them know what the damages were. They credited two months worth of invoices. Now they deny any responsibility for the damages.

Our insurance will not cover it because the primary problem is mold and it is an exclusion in most all policies these days.

Do we have any recourse?

How do I respond to a collections notice from my old landlord?

electroboy — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 16:19:40 -0800

I just got a collections notice from my old apartment complex. What do I do to make it go away? I lived in this place for almost exactly two years. I bought a house and moved out on Jan 31. I gave notice a little late, but the property manager accepted it and approved it in writing.

Today I received a notice from a collections agency for $700. I left a message with the apartment manager and contacted the collections company, but it's after hours. The only thing the operator could tell me was that it was for not returning keys and damage to the carpet. I didn't do the post move walkthrough, mostly because I was busy with the new place and the lease said I had to give notice if I wanted to be present. I also didn't leave a forwarding address, but the complex does have my phone number. My lease says nothing about returning keys. The carpet damage could be from a couple water leaks we had that I reported to maintenance and they fixed eventually after making a dozen or so service calls. I have some of the service call tickets from this, but not all since there were lots of them and sometimes they didn't leave a ticket, or wrote it on scrap paper, paper towels, etc.

SO.... my question is, how do I make this go away? From my very biased in favor of me POV, I owe them nothing since the lease doesn't mention keys and the carpet is either covered under "normal wear and tear" (which the lease specifically mentions). In fact, want my security deposit back ($200). Tomorrow I plan to dispute the notice in writing, but beyond that, what do I do?

Insurance Company Woes

sophist — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 19:29:49 -0800

I am being sued for damages related to an auto accident. The lawyer from the insurance firm is representing my case. Should I get my own lawyer? About six years ago I hit a pedestrian while driving. At the time I was a minor on my parents' insurance. Due to the conditions (raining, at night) and situation (pedestrian running across 4 lane highway, no lighting) I was obsolved of criminal charges by the police at the time. Later on the guy decided to sue me for damages in civil court. It has escalated and is definitely going to trial. They are asking for $500,000, $250,000 of which is covered by my insurance. The insurance lawyer seems nonchalant but the insurance company has not settled and trial date has been posted for next month. Should I get my own lawyer to represent my interests, rather than those of the company? Any other insights on the situation would be appreciated.