Legal Advice please: My son threw up on the piano at his lesson...who is responsible to pay for the damage?

Question

My son threw up on the piano. His lessons are at a piano studio in an office complex. The owner asked if I intended to pay for a professional cleaner and "implied" this could permanently ruin her piano. Again, this is a business, not someone's home, so shouldnt she have insurance for this kind of thing? One more thing, she did mention this was her personal piano. Any legal advice?

Answer 1

well one would think that a teacher would have something that would cover any damage since she is using it in a public place to teach people on it... Do you have any contract with this person? if so take a look and see if she has a damage clause or anything.. If you do not have a contract take a look at her class information (handout, flyer,etc) to see if she has any damage clause in that.

You can also find out the following.. Did your child tell the teacher he did not fell well? and did she say finish this lesson? Thus making him get sick in that location.

The nice thing would be to offer to clean it.. I do not see how this could destory a piano (then again not a piano expert, but I do know many people that have spilled things on them and had no problems).

Hope this helps

Answer 2

Ethically, you should offer to pay for the cleaning.  Whether the piano is owned in her business' name or by her personally is immaterial.

Answer 3

Well, likely she has insurance.  If she files a claim with her insurer, they ARE going to subrogate - come after the legally responsible person - WHICH IS YOU.  

Yes, you are going to be held responsible for the damage your son did to her piano, even if she files a claim against her policy for it.

But likely, your homeowners or renters policy will pay for this under the liability section.

** just a few comments, as I DO play piano, and my mother is a pianist, and OMTA ex-president - likely, some or all of the felts may have to be replaced, and it could be affecting the pins, as well.   Yes, it's going to need a real cleaning by a real piano tuner/repair guy.  It doesn't matter that it's her personal piano - the ownership of the damaged item is irrelevant.  Vomit in the keys/on the piano is NOT a normal wear/tear/at your own risk hazard.   The location is only important, in so much that it didn't happen in your home.     Both legally and morally, I think you're going to be obligated to pay for the damages.  Which means, file the claim under your homeowners policy.  They'll pay it for you.  Depending on the amount of felts that have to be replaced, and possible pin damage, this is probably going to run you anywhere from $200 to $800 for the fix.    Yes, it's mechanical.  Vomit can damage the wood, WILL damage the felts, and moisture in the pins will adversely effect the action.  **

Answer 4

I'm not an attorney but, by bringing her personal piano into work, she accepted liability  for placing it in harm's way.  I think the owners should have forseen unusual circumstances when they decided to work with children.  Therefore, I think their insurance should pay.

On the other hand, if they took you to court, I think they could have a decent argument claiming you accepted the liability by bringing a sick child to their class.  Ofcourse, you could counter by saying they should have posted some guidelines about not bringing sick kids to class.

I'm not sure there is a clear cut answer but, it sounds interesting.

Answer 5

I'm not an expert AT ALL.

I wasn't going to actually answer but here we go.

If it's a business then yes you'd think they have insurance

And if it's a business and not someone's home then why did she bring her personal piano?

She shouldn't have taken the risk really "/

I hope your son is feeling bettter anyway

And I hope it all works out for the best :)

Answer 6

Homeowners insurance is generally a named peril insurance. That means, the damage to the property has to be caused by a named peril.  Human vomit is not a named peril.

It's very possible that she does not have any type of insurance to cover this type of damage.

And even if she has insurance to cover it......the insurance company will come back after the party that caused the damage -- you (since your son is a minor) for repayment. So you're going to end up paying for the damage anyway.

If your son had kicked the piano and caused a hole in it....you would be responsible for that. Why his is vomit not your problem?

I suggest you work with the lady to have her piano cleaned.  

It's the right thing to do and as a parent, you are responsible when your minor child damages someone else's property.

If you don't want to pay out of pocket, file a claim with your homeowners coverage and see if your liability coverage will pay for it.

Also....it''s perfectly reasonable for her to hire a cleaner to clean up the piano.  Asking someone else to clean up with your child's vomit is just gross! At the very least, it's your kid...YOU clean up his vomit!  

If she sues you......your not going to have a legal leg to stand on and probably won't get a whole lot of sympathy from the judge.  Time to start acting like an adult and take care of the damage your son caused.