OMG 1Ds MK3 hit the concrete

Me and my colleagues were out shooting earlier, and stopped by a local restaurant for a quick bite afterward. One of my buddy sat his 1Ds MK3 on the table while he was starting to pack the rest of his gears away, well all of a sudden we heard a loud thud and broken glass noise, and we found his 1Ds MK3 was on the floor! Apparently a lady was walking past his table and her handbag caught on the 1Ds MK3's neck-strap and accidently yanked it down. My buddy was speechless but all that lady said was, "oh sorry...", then she walked away. The 70-200 2.8 IS mounted on his camera now has a broken front element (he doesn't has any UV filter on and the lens hood was in reverse position because he was getting ready to pack it away). Now the poor 1Ds MK3 has a bent hotshoe and some dents on the top. Needless to say he is very upset.

When accident like this happen, can you sue the person who damaged your gear or demand them to pay for the repair?

not if she walks away...

That lady was extremely rude just to walk away, as far as suing? dunno, He better have had insurance.

my buddy wrote down her car's license plate, she was wearing a bestbuy uniform and there is a Bestbuy store couple blocks away so I'm sure she work there....does it help? and no he doesn't has insurance yet!

I dont think he can sue, but maybe he can demand some compensation

He can take her to small claims court I'm sure... The question is going to be if its worth the hassle. I'd lean towards insurance.

And that’s why I always leave camera on the floor when I’m repacking the bag!

If everything else is okay, front element and the hotshoe shouldn’t be too expensive to fix.

ben805 wrote in post #7382053
Me and my colleagues were out shooting earlier, and stopped by a local restaurant for a quick bite afterward. One of my buddy sat his 1Ds MK3 on the table while he was starting to pack the rest of his gears away, well all of a sudden we heard a loud thud and broken glass noise, and we found his 1Ds MK3 was on the floor! Apparently a lady was walking past his table and her handbag caught on the 1Ds MK3's neck-strap and accidently yanked it down. My buddy was speechless but all that lady said was, "oh sorry...", then she walked away. The 70-200 2.8 IS mounted on his camera now has a broken front element (he doesn't has any UV filter on and the lens hood was in reverse position because he was getting ready to pack it away). Now the poor 1Ds MK3 has a bent hotshoe and some dents on the top. Needless to say he is very upset.

When accident like this happen, can you sue the person who damaged your gear or demand them to pay for the repair?

You can file a civil lawsuit against anyone for just about anything. That's really the last resort after trying to resolve a situation and not having any success. The deciding factor is if the amount you're trying to recoup is worth the time and expense of it. The other option might be small claims court.
There's a large difference between bumping someone's table at a resturant and spilling their drink and bouncing almost $9k of camera gear on the floor. I certainly would not have just left it at her walking away with nothing more than "sorry", and I think just letting her out of your sight without settling the issue of responsibility was a mistake. Without witnesses she could easily claim that she was never even in the resturant or near the table where your friend had his camera.
At this point, if you're lucky enough to be able to track this woman down, it might be worth suggesting that she is responsible for the damages to the camera and lens, but lets face it a Best Buy employee is not very likely to have the money its going to take to repair either the camera or the lens much less both.
If your friend is a homeowner his homeowners insurance may cover the damages, check the policy.
My condolences to your friend also, just reading that made me a little bit sick.

You can sue her. You need to have some evidence (witness) that she didn't take good care of her bag and her strap was when she was walking on your table and it caused your friends gear to fall.
Nowadays you can sue anyone for anything . And there still is a posibility you will win.

Big bucks situation that probably exceeds small claims court. He needs to file a report with the police. He has witnesses and a license number. BB usually sells cameras like 40D and 50D models. That woman should have known that damage to a camera and lens was no trivial thing. Home owners/renters insurance policies have liability for just such things.

Good luck!

ben805 wrote in post #7382053
Me and my colleagues were out shooting earlier, and stopped by a local restaurant for a quick bite afterward. One of my buddy sat his 1Ds MK3 on the table while he was starting to pack the rest of his gears away, well all of a sudden we heard a loud thud and broken glass noise, and we found his 1Ds MK3 was on the floor! Apparently a lady was walking past his table and her handbag caught on the 1Ds MK3's neck-strap and accidently yanked it down. My buddy was speechless but all that lady said was, "oh sorry...", then she walked away. The 70-200 2.8 IS mounted on his camera now has a broken front element (he doesn't has any UV filter on and the lens hood was in reverse position because he was getting ready to pack it away). Now the poor 1Ds MK3 has a bent hotshoe and some dents on the top. Needless to say he is very upset.

When accident like this happen, can you sue the person who damaged your gear or demand them to pay for the repair?

If it's your friend, tell him to get a lawyer and find out his options. Any advice you get here is moot on that subject (unless there is a lawyer here that is willing to help). That really sucks, but I really think your friend was silly to not have insurance on 9K worth of gear. I insured my stuff the next day, and all it will take now is a quick phone call to have new gear added to my policy and drop by to provide a copy of the receipt the next day. My agent has my trust and trusts me. Plus it would be stupid for me to lie to him.

I hope that it works out in his favor, and he learns a few things in the process.

I hope that never happens to me, I don't know what I'd do...

Wow, that sucks!

Did you take a picture of her?

I admit she was exceptionally rude, but at the same time, accidents DO happen. Responsibility is not necessarily squarely on the lady. Where was the camera placed? How was it placed? Was it place in a situation of reasonable safety? These things can be very subjective. There should always be care taken with your gear when in public. Whenever I place my camera down I consider what can happen to it where it is. When dining, I avoid having it on the table - I clear the neck strap from hanging off the edge if I do and so on.

Regardless, what would YOU do if you did the same thing to a strangers camera? I mean besides doing the very minimal and being EXTREMELY apologetic - how would you resolve the issue? Obviously, you don't want to pay for repairs if it's not 'entirely' your fault.

Your friend has my sincere sympathy.

This is what nightmares are made of.

I just hate it when treasured possessions get damaged.

There's a difference between an accident and negligence. Your friend should contact an attorney. Even if she doesn't have the money to pay out damages, she may have some kind of liability insurance. I would also contact the manager of Best Buy and explain that one of his uniformed employees destroyed such expensive equipment by failing to exercise ordinary, reasonable care.

mrkgoo has a going point in that your friend *may* bear some responsibility, in the form of contributory negligence. Essentially, for any suit in negligence to stand, your friend would have to demonstrate that he acted (that is, secured the camera in such a position) with reasonably prudent care, and that she, while walking by, failed to do so and that resulted in the injury to your friend (i.e., broken camera).

An attorney would be able to explain all of this, as well as give you an idea of whether you'd be wasting your time pursuing it, in less than an hour. But don't forget he or she would take a hefty percentage of whatever settlement your friend ultimately gets...