New Fad: Suing for $54 Million
As she reports on her very revealing blog, sometime in 2006 Raelyn Campbell bought an extended warranty along with a laptop computer from Best Buy. To make a long story short, Ms. Campbell’s computer malfunctioned in May 2007, and the Geek Squad lost it. Best Buy engaged in the usual corporate dithering but in August confirmed that it had lost the computer. Ms. Campbell alleges that either a Best Buy employee stole it or Best Buy allowed the computer to be stolen through its negligence. My guess is that the computer is probably hidden under a pile of Star Trek videos and nebulizers in the lonesome cubicle of some overworked Geek.
In any case, Ms. Campbell was not satisfied with Best Buy’s offer to give her a $500 gift certificate and refund her the price of her computer, characterizing the offer as an “insult” and a “lowball offer.” In November 2007, Ms. Campbell filed a lawsuit against Best Buy seeking $54 million in damages. Ms. Campbell’s complaint is not a part of her blog, but her claims seem to sound in “negligence, theft and deception,” and in a District of Columbia consumer protection statute. The damages she seeks are largely punitive and aim to force Best Buy to see the ‘error of its ways.” The fanciful amount is a self-conscious homage to the suit brought by a judge against a dry cleaner who ruined his pants. As Ms. Campbell puts it, “I’ll be the first to admit that it is a ridiculous sum of money.”
Interestingly enough, Ms. Campbell’s blog makes no mention (that I could find) of any contractual claims, even though any damages she is owed would likely flow from a breach of warranty claim. Needless to say, the rush to tort theories is encouraged by the well-known limitations on contracts remedies. Such remedies are clearly inadequate for Ms. Campbell, since she lost not only the value of her computer but also the priceless music and photos that she had stored on the computer (and apparently only on the computer). So, unless Ms. Campbell can spark a movement to permit compensation under contracts law for non-pecuniary loss, good, hard-working people like Ms. Campbell will have no choice but to file $54 million tort claims (or learn how to back up their files).
HT (again!) to Alan White.
[Jeremy Telman]