Legal Question in Consumer Law in Massachusetts

PC Hard Drive Destroyed

I dropped my laptop off at the IT department at the college that I attend. It was there for only 2 simple things order a new battery charger and update virus software. When I dropped it off the laptop had no problems at all. When I finally picked up the laptop they had replaced my hard drive with a new one claiming that it did not work. They had already shipped the old hard drive back to Dell to be destroyed with all my files on it. They said that they must have mistaken my computer with someone elses that needed a new hard drive. So they shipped my hard drive off without letting me know and destroyed it. Now they say that they assume no responsibility of what they did with my personal property. Do you think that something like this would hold up in small claims court?


Asked on 10/02/08, 5:43 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
henry lebensbaum Law Offices of Henry Lebensbaum (978-749-3606)

Re: PC Hard Drive Destroyed

I would file a small claims action; but how to you quantify the damages?

This is critical.

Read more
Answered on 10/03/08, 11:10 am
Gregory Lee Gregory P. Lee, Attorney at Law

Re: PC Hard Drive Destroyed

As this is a college, I suspect that this is something of a "buyer beware" situation -- you are apparently getting computer and IT as part of your educational agreement. That agreement will control, and any reasonable regulations under the agreement. I suspect that the IT regulations state that the school IT department bears no responsibility for the loss of files, and assumes that you have backed your files up when you leave the computer for maintenance.

However, you can certainly file the suit and see what happens.

For what it's worth, I taught a few classes at a Boston institution, and I provided the following lack of sympathy to all of my students: "Back-up hard-drives cost under $100.00 for plenty of gigabytes of data, and can be connected via a USB port -- simple enough for a dimwitted lawyer like myself to operate. Whatever else you buy, consider one to be a reasonable educational expense. If your parents disagree, tell them Professor Lee is a maniac who means it when he says that he will not give extensions for work lost as a result of alleged failure to back up data, especially on a multi-week project. And tell them I absolutely have even less sympathy for the music and other recreational material you lost due to failure to back up."

The loss of your files should prompt you to find ways to protect your interests in this matter.

Read more
Answered on 10/02/08, 6:01 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Consumer Law questions and answers in Massachusetts