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Small Claims Court Case #3120467
My fiesty wife Jennifer loves to take on injustice (especially when directed at her), and recently proved her worth once again with a victory in small claims court last week.
The claim stemmed from a botched hair dyeing session at a local beauty salon. She was wearing her new leather coat, and asked the beautician if she should take it off during the session. The beautician said no, it would be OK. Sure enough, after the dyeing session was completed, some of it dripped on her coat, and a big ugly, and unremoveable stain was left on one shoulder. Expressing as much polite indignation as she could muster, she demanded the beauty salon to refund her money and offer compensation on her damaged clothing. They refused and simply dismissed her, saying that it was not their responsibility.
Realizing that arguing with the hair stylists would lead nowhere, she saught legal advice from a lawyer friend, who told her she had a strong case to win at least money for a new jacket. So, over the following weeks, which turned into months, she collected all the evidence (including a written statement by one of the beauticians that they do not require guests to remove expensive clothing before treatment), she was granted a court date.
The owner of the beauty salon showed up but did not have an inkling why he was there, and had not been advised by anyone about the details of the case. The judge even poked fun at him repeatedly saying he was "legally blind" (fa mang), meaning he did not understand even the simplest of court proceedings. This was made evident when the boss asked repeatedly why he was in court and not his workers who actually caused the damage.
After the court decision to award Jennifer her claim, the bill came out as follows:
Court costs paid by defendant 300 RMB
Jennifer's lawyer fees 300 RMB
Cost of replacing jacket 1600 RMB
Case closed.
last modified Jun 20, 2005 at 20:34
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