Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Massachusetts
Small Claims over Frosting?!
I was at a party last year where several people became engaged in a good natured cake fight.
One of the people involved got frosting on his leather jacket. He got the jacket dry cleaned and is now taking my friend to small claims court for the cost of the dry cleaning.
He was a willing participant and did nothing proactive to protect his jacket and at no point was any discussion had about paying for the dry cleaning before costs were accrued.
It was a small amount that he could have cleaned with a damp sponge.
What laws can my friend research in order to provide a defense to the magistrate?
Thank you.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Small Claims over Frosting?!
Your friend should just tell the story. Of importance is the voluntary nature of participation. It is also important to ask whether your friend was the actual jacket-froster.
In the future, of course, the leather jacket guy should not be invited to cake fights.
However, there are obviously hurt feelings here. More to the point, how the heck much can the dry-cleaning bill be? I don't know about leather jackets, so I plead real ignorance -- a suit jacket costs maybe $20 to clean. Is leather $100 or something? It seems to me that your friend will waste a hell of a lot of time in court over something that everyone could negotiate and come to agreement on. You folks are wasting a lot of time and court time on "being right" instead of "being real."
Re: Small Claims over Frosting?!
Just to add to what attorney Lee has already said, you should tell your friend to stress that the plaintiff voluntarily participated in the cake fight, and thereby consented to having cake thrown on him, and stress those facts which support this conclusion.
That should do it!
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