Earring knocked off/lost by salon employee

[slwoody]

My jurisdiction is: Iowa

My wife was having her hair shampooed at her local salon, going there for years. She felt a bump on her ear and immediately sat up, and felt the diamond earring was gone. The stylist acknowledged she'd bumped the earring and turned off the running water. Several employees looked for the earring, to no avail. The sink trap was removed later and the earring was not in it.

My wife spoke to the salon owner, who suggested we file a claim with our homeowners insurance and said he was not liable because the store has posted signs that say "Not responsible for lost or stolen items". He refused to file a claim or repay us for the earring.

I went to the store immediately following this phone call and no signs were visible. I asked the store employees where the signs were and was shown one small typewritten sign taped to the counter that read "Not responsible for lost items". I took pictures of the sign.

Can we file a claim against the salon for damages? If so, do we name both salon owner and the stylist as defendants? The employee readily admitted (at least initially) that she had bumped the earring. Also, do we file for an amount to cover the cost of 2 earrings, or attempt to ascertain the cost of creating a matching diamond earring? The set of two earrings was worth about $500-600 9 years ago; we're not talking a huge amount of money!

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Did the employee say that she bumped the earring or the ear? Does she know for certain? If she did, then the earring should have been found. This is a small claims case and I can't tell you whether you'll be successful. Was there "negligence" involved? I'm not sure. At the very least, why didn't your wife take off her earrings before getting her hair shampooed? Doesn't she do this at home before she showers? Additionally, what if the post was weak and that was the cause of the normally more secure earring post becoming loosened by a mere "brush" of the ear in the normal course of business?

So if I were the arbiter or judge, I can't be sure that I'd fault the employee for brushing your wife's earrings in the normal course and it falling off so easily. Here is another problem I'm having - causation. How do you KNOW that the employee's brushing your wife's ear caused the earring to fall. Did she see the earring fall? If she brushed the earring with her hand? I don't have all the facts nor their side either.

Whatever you do, remember that if your wife likes the salon you'll never have the same relationship if you sue them. Why do you feel you prefer to sue them?

 

[slwoody]

Thank you

Thank you for the comments. My wife hasn't taken the earrings off for a very long time; that may help us or hurt us. The salon employee knew she'd bumped the earring and said so immediately as my wife sat up and felt the earring was gone. Water continued to flush down the sink for several moments until the employee turned it off.

The owner has been rather uncooperative and even made comments alluding to possible fraud on my wife's part, which is infuriating when his own employees agree what happened. He is considering this earring lost property, when clearly it was 'lost' due to his employee's action.

We are going to submit a letter to the owner requesting some sort of compensation first, even a partial payment would help. We've spent many times the money in the salon that this earring is probably worth, but we feel the employee/salon should cover the cost of replacement.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Thanks for your reply and it's always interesting to me how different people can see a situation in a whole different perspective.

I'm sympathetic to your cause but I still fail to see how you think that the employee's foreseeable act of touching your wife's earrings is the salon's fault. Your wife apparently felt it was perfectly acceptable to wear the earrings for the shampoo. How do you know that the earring wasn't "lost" because you haven't had the earrings serviced for a very long time? Perhaps the earring fell against the employees hand and the earring touched her hand?

Honestly, if I was the salon owner, I'd feel the same way. While I can appreciate your feelings, how many times in the salon do you think it takes for them to make up a $600+ loss, which you seem to estimate at $1,200 to replace a "pair?" If it were me, I might be willing to lose a customer, especially one that claims it's my fault because my employee brushed against an earring that, quite honestly, it would seem she forgot to take off before the shampoo. Let the other people who hear the story be the judge and decide whether the salon should really be held liable for this unfortunate accident. There isn't always someone to blame and recover from in life.

Negligence (Webster): Failure to exercise the degree of care considered reasonable under the circumstances, resulting in an unintended injury to another party.

What kind of duty was breached by the employee? She was doing her job. She didn't yank your wife's ear. She didn't tug it nor anything out of the ordinary.

Your best bet for recovery in law is "contributory negligence" which means you'll get a fraction of what it was worth, based upon the apportionment of negligence between the parties. If this was me as judge, I'd see your wife as the negligent one. It was careless and she forgot about having the earrings on. It's common but whose fault is this? Many make it habit to remove jewelry before washing to ensure things like this don't happen. Perhaps you see it differently but I'm wondering whether a judge or arbiter would see it that way.

 

[slwoody]

Thanks again, you've certainly made me look at the case from the other side. We may just write a letter and see if the salon would be willing to meet us halfway (the total value is only about $350 for one earring) and pay half. I'd allow my wife could have taken the earrings off prior to the appointment and hopefully will from now on.

However it ends up, I appreciate your input, very valuable! Thanks again.