OMG 1Ds MK3 hit the concrete

Doh...sorry to hear that.

..and that's why I have insurance..hope the legal end works out for you...

nicksan wrote in post #7383098
Yeah man.
Now why wasn't there any velcro on the table and on the bottom of the 1DsMKIII?

That's just plain silly.

In california you will be sue for NOT suing...

randy.wick wrote in post #7382865
Best Buy employee should be aware of the potential value of a relatively small electronic device.

I'd sue the hell out of her, and attach best buy under a respondeat superior theory. Failure to properly prepare employees to understand the dangers of carelessly swinging hand bags around expensive camera equipment. Twenty page complaint. Maybe you're a resident of another state and you can even bring it action in federal court...

Well, at the risk of being sued, I have to admit thats about the stupidest thing I've heard in a while.

I'm assuming hopefully that you wrote it all in jest.

It was an accident. Your friend knows now to be more careful with his camera. Anyone advocating suing just gtfo.

randy.wick wrote in post #7382865
Maybe you're a resident of another state and you can even bring it action in federal court... Or maybe I'm just a law student and like trying to think of things from this point of view

Tsk tsk... you must have missed the civ pro lecture about the jurisdictional limit of $75,000 before you can bring a federal diversity action...

I feel for the guy but...HE'S A FOOL FOR NOT HAVING INSURANCE! I recently went abroad and insured all my gear . State Farm, zero deductible, for $2 per hundred and it's portable and in effect wherever you go. I was more worried about theft but it's all the same...if it's broken ya can't use it either. It's a small price to pay for peace of mind

SOL!

It will cost you more to sue than to simply get it fixed. You are partially at fault for leaving the camera sitting in such a way. You should also have had it insured or be willing to accept the risks of self-insuring. It was an accident in a crowded restaurant when you were not watching out for something very expensive, but expecting everyone else to.

WAF wrote in post #7383568
It will cost you more to sue than to simply get it fixed. You are partially at fault for leaving the camera sitting in such a way. You should also have had it insured or be willing to accept the risks of self-insuring. It was an accident in a crowded restaurant when you were not watching out for something very expensive, but expecting everyone else to.

Exactly. A few hundred dollars for repair or moths and moths of legal crap and so on.... Take responsibility for your own actions and deal with carelessness the right way.

I have broken more crap in the last 5 or so years than I care to think of, it has cost me, but only I am to blame. Even when I got tackled on the sidelines and my lens mount went to crap. Did I sue the players? No, I sucked it up and drove on. My fault, I put myself and my gear in that situation, not the players.

I know it's always easier to blame everyone else for things that happen, I do it too, but I think you're going to just have to rough it on this one.

I would have s**t a brick.

Then cried........

He is one of those "nah it would never happen to me" kind of guy, I wonder if his 70-200 2.8 IS would have survived the 5ft crash landing if he had a B+W UV filter on. we all feel awful and sad to see his 1Ds MK3 got all banged up, his 580EX II doesn't fit in the hotshoe anymore, but the camera did power on after the accident...I'm sure he has learned it the hard way and will start insuring all his gears from now on. Most of the time he was careful with all his gears, not sure why he didn't hang the camera on his shoulder like he usually does. My 40D w/ grip + 100-400L + 580EX rig can get heavy after hours of shooting but the strap is always around my neck, otherwise it stays in the slingshot bag.

The thing is though...if he were driving down the road and accidently ram his car into an unoccupied car in the parking lot, he could not have gotten away by simply saying "oh sorry..." to the owner of the damaged car and drive away, it would have been hit-and-run and the law enforcement probably would come kicking down his door and arrest him in no time. Now how is it different when someone knocked down his gear and damaged it then simply walked away though? Accident or not the damage was done by someone else, shouldn't there be some kind of penalty? So what happened next time when I see a reporter trying to clean the LCD or chiming pictures on their D3X rig, and I swing my camera bag wildly just to knock the camera off of his hand in purpose, but pretend it was an accident...could I have gotten away with a simple apology? LOL I don't know, I'm not sure what else he can do other than suck it up and pay for the damages himself...

brianch wrote in post #7382970
I do believe she should have been more careful and aware of the surrounding environment but the owner of the camera should have been more careful and not placed the camera on the table ledge. This is a good reminder for all of us to be careful when bringing our cameras out to casual events.

Several of you have referred to the camera being placed on the edge of the table. While that may well be the case, the original OP said nothing about that. People are making assumptions. I stand behind what I said earlier, but it wasn't established that the camera was just sitting there begging to be snagged.

Still...

ben805 wrote in post #7384323
The thing is though...if he were driving down the road and accidently ram his car into an unoccupied car in the parking lot, he could not have gotten away by simply saying "oh sorry..." to the owner of the damaged car and drive away, it would have been hit-and-run and the law enforcement probably would come kicking down his door and arrest him in no time. Now how is it different when someone knocked down his gear and damaged it then simply walked away though?

Interesting comparison. The difference lies in the fact that it is not predictable or usual for a person to drive their car into another, and that the owner of the other car had taken all reasonable precautions to prevent it. In a busy restaurant, it is usual and predictable for passersby to brush against tables, and when they do, the results are almost always insignificant. If valuable property had not been placed out of this predictable harm's way, the responsibility still falls more on the owner, in my opinion.