Here's a scenario...

[Sylent_Asassin Black Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close Sylent_Asassin]

A person with very expensive artwork in tow is checking into a well-known chain Hotel. An autistic kid, runs full-speed and jumps onto the artwork, destroying thousands of dollars of artwork. The guardian of the child profusely apologizes, then takes the kid and runs away, but they're guests staying in the Hotel. The guardian of the child is responsible here, but they ran off.

Can the person that owns the artwork request that the Hotel provide the contact information of the guest with the autistic child to pursue legal action since this incident occured on their property, OR are they just SOL?

[Lantern A-train Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Lantern A-train]

Hmmm that is interesting. He may not be able to get the hotel to give up that info to him directly because of their policies, however if he files a police report the cops may be able to get that info as it would be "necessary to the investigation".

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Yeah, involving the police would be the way to get the information, I'd think. If they didn't want to involve the police, then I think they'd be out of luck (officially, anyway. I wouldn't doubt that some hotel employee or other might be willing to give up that info, even if they weren't "supposed to", or legally required to).

I'm dying to know if this is just a hypothetical, or if Sylent is out some expensive artwork.

[Sylent_Asassin Black Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close Sylent_Asassin]

I'm dying to know if this is just a hypothetical, or if Sylent is out some expensive artwork.

This is a real situation, only I'm not involved, but an associate of mine.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Why is it that every time I hear somebody use the term "associate" my mind automatically thinks "organized crime"?

[Jeff Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Jeff]

Why is it that every time I hear somebody use the term "associate" my mind automatically thinks "organized crime"?

[Sylent_Asassin Black Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close Sylent_Asassin]

Why is it that every time I hear somebody use the term "associate" my mind automatically thinks "organized crime"?

Because you watch too much TV?

Seriously though, this is a crappy situation because the artwork that was destroyed was an accident, but legally, the guardians of the child are responsible. They didn't want to get the police involved as this isn't a criminal matter, but that's about the only way to get the Hotel to produce the contact information of the kid's guardians.

Goodfellas. LOL...

[Jeff Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Jeff]

Question: what kind of artwork are we talking here? Mona Lisa level stuff? Artwork that is dependent upon a job? Signed pieces as memorables?

[Sylent_Asassin Black Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close Sylent_Asassin]

Question: what kind of artwork are we talking here? Mona Lisa level stuff? Artwork that is dependent upon a job? Signed pieces as memorables?

LOL Oh, no. The Mona Lisa is worth about $700 million. This is original artwork in frames that would be worth a couple thousand dollars MAX.

Ultimately, it's the guardian's fault for letting the kid run free. It's just getting the local authorities to force the Hotel to divulge the contact information of the guardians to press charges that's the work in progress. This happened last weekend, so the Police would be forced to review the security footage and assess the situation. Since it was last weekend, I'm not even sure the Police would get involved since no one was hurt. I think there would be a better chance of pressing charges if the authorities were called the same day.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Yeah, my sympathy would decrease (and my amusement increase) if the artwork was some kind of silly modern piece that actually LOOKS like something a kid should jump on.

EDIT: But that obviously isn't the case, since you mention it being framed artwork.

[Jeff Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Jeff]

Ok, gotcha. I totally agree with you as far as who's at fault here, but I also think the time to contact the authorities has passed. The artwork holder should have done it that split second it happened.

Personally, if the artwork was really really important to me, I would have followed the parent and kid back to the room because the incident was far from over. At least I could have gotten a room number and then maybe score some info from an employee. I guarantee you if it was my MP Megatron, shit would hit the fan.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Since it was last weekend, I'm not even sure the Police would get involved since no one was hurt. I think there would be a better chance of pressing charges if the authorities were called the same day.

You don't think the police are interested in property damage?

Though I confess, you are probably correct about the longer the wait, the less interested they would be in getting involved. If it were me, and I really wanted to hold the guardians financially responsible, I'd file the police report. If the police wondered why I didn't call them right away, I'd just tell them honestly that I didn't want to have to involve them, but that the Hotel wouldn't release the names to me.

I strongly suspect that the Hotel knows exactly who the responsible parties were, but is prevented by policy from sharing that info with private citizens. The police might not even need to review any surveillance tapes to get the names for your...associate...though if they are going to file suit, they would definitely be a handy thing to have....

[Darth_Primus Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Darth_Primus]

The owner of the artwork is not SOL, but will most likely need to seek legal action to obtain the information needed from the hotel to recover compensation for their loss.

Not knowing the exact details of the "scenario," the owner of the damaged artwork will have 3 years to file a civil claim before the statue of limitations runs out. The art owner may file a complaint even though they don't know the identity of the guardians under CCCP 474. Once the complaint is filed and assigned to a judge, the art owner may submit a subpoena application to have the hotel produce the information requested under the discovery process.

However, this will probably be an arduous task for a non-lawyer/layman as you'll have find the proper jurisdiction; draft a proper complaint; understand the rules of filing a complaint; fill out a subpoena for submission and knowledge on how to serve a subpoena.

But this is a small claims court manner (which is not my area of work), so it might be easier.
Here's the link to small claims court in Santa Clara County, CA: http://www.scscourt.org/self_help/sm...ng_claim.shtml


Or the art owner could try a bribe a hotel employee for the information.

[Lantern of Gallifrey Senior Corps Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lantern of Gallifrey]

Well they could always stake out the lobby and wait for the guardian to show up.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Well they could always stake out the lobby and wait for the guardian to show up.

That actually seems like a viable IMMEDIATE strategy (though fairly confrontational) if you have the time to spend in the lobby that day. But at this remove, it is likely the person is long gone from the Hotel.