A judge who gets it!
And guess what, it’s a New York judge who got it right.
Apparently, an owner of an upscale Manhattan restaurant filed a lawsuit against a supermodel over a damaged designer umbrella said to be worth $5,000. Yes, a restaurant owner owned a $5,000 umbrella—let that settle in first. Then, he loaned out the $5,000 umbrella. Then, when it was damaged, he sued for one million dollars. Yes, one million dollars!
That’s when the judge got it right! New York State Supreme Court Justice Joan. A. Madden threw out the lawsuit, calling motions filed by the attorney on behalf of Nello Balan a “waste of judicial resources.” She then fined Balan’s attorney $500 for filing a frivolous claim.
Good for her! I hope sure she makes sure the attorney pays every penny of that $500.
Balan sued supermodel Le Call for $1 million, claiming that he lent her a Jean-Paul Gaultier-designed umbrella—and that she returned it to him in two pieces.
Balan claimed emotional distress and said that the model had intentionally damaged the umbrella.
Emotional distress over an umbrella? Did he really claim that! Yes! He did!
You know, I don’t own much that is worth $5,000 or more, much less an umbrella! And, if I did, I don’t think I’d be using the umbrella, much less loaning it out!
At what point does something become of great enough value to you that you would sue over it being damaged? Would you sue someone over damaging your property?
Share you thoughts!
