QUESTION
What can I do after a courier completely broke my computer?
Asked on May 23rd, 2014 on Personal Injury - New York
More details to this question:
I hope this message finds you well. I am writing for legal advice. I want to sue a courier for the amount of $5,000 for the loss of my computer. I sent my computer to my friend to use and while being delivered, the courier completely broke my computer. As a result, I had to put a claim on my computer. I got a received a message a month later stated that my claim has been denied due to the fact that I didn't use their product to package it with. I used my computer shipping box. Angered by the verdict, I told them to send it back to me, but to change the address in which they never fulfilled my request. Another month goes by and I haven't seen my package. I called and they said they don't know where my package is located. I put a claim on that issue. A week later, they sent me a notification stating they lost my package, and to fill out paperwork to received payment for my lost items. A day after I sent in the paperwork, they sent me a notification stating they are not liable. After talking to them for over an hour they told me, there is nothing they can do. I don't know what to do. My whole life was on that computer.
2 ANSWERS
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Attorney serving Syracuse, NY
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Andrew T. Velonis, P.C.
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Find out what the limit for small claims court is in your area. In many places, it is $5,000 which happens to be the amount you mentioned. If so, you can file your own claim and take them to court.
Answered on May 28th, 2014 at 7:16 PM
Civil Litigation Attorney serving New York, NY
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Havens & Lichtenberg PLLC
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You can go to the small claims court. The paperwork you need to fill out is not complicated, and there usually are court personnel or volunteer attorneys who would help you with filing your claim. When you and the defendant meet in court, you will have 2 major issues - a) you will have to prove that there was a contract between you and the carrier company, and b) that the value of the computer was what you claim it to be. If it replacement value is less than $5000, you will have to prove to the court that the contents of that computer - installed software, documents, etc. - were worth the difference. Please understand that the court might be sympathetic to your anguish over the loss of the files that had great personal significance to you, but the law does not provide for a monetary compensation of such emotional losses unless they caused clinically significant, objective damage to your health. Besides, the defense attorney will argue that you should have had a backup of the lost files if they were of such great value to you, and that your failure to preserve them constitutes so-called contributory negligence that should limit - or completely eliminate - the defendant's responsibility for your loss of these materials. So, technically, you should expect to recover the replacement value of your computer, the replacement value of the software that was installed on your computer (to the extent you can prove that it was installed and that you paid for it), and the money you paid for the delivery the carrier failed to perform.
Answered on May 28th, 2014 at 7:16 PM