Tuesday, July 12, 2011

It's not your chair anymore!

Because I like a good story...

Imagine:

You buy a dining room set from a stranger, who bought it from someone else a few years before. It's a little worn, but you find it suitable for your purposes and spend a quite a bit of time and money fixing it up.

After you've owned it for some time, you are informed that a friend of the original owner wants that chair because it perfectly matches a dining set he has. They don't want to buy the chair from you; they are demanding that you return it.

Their claim to have a right to make this request is this: It seems that the original owner had promised that chair in this dining room set (along with other furniture pieces in his home) to his son. In the drafting of their argreement for transfer of goods, the desired chair was accidentally omitted and neither party caught it. This intent to deliver the chair is binding enough that it transfers to you (several owners later) and you are obligated to comply.

Now you have to give back the chair you paid for and invested time and additional resources in because they made a mistake in the drafting the original agreement to transfer goods.

Not only is this the case, but you also have to pay shipping and handling to send it to them.

Is there a sane person on the earth that would support that? What would be your response?

5 comments:

  1. That is insane - especially if it has changed hands multiple times. I'd say if they really wanted it back, and the current owner is willing to let it go, they can buy it from the current owners at a price that will cover the cost of replacing it. Otherwise, it would need to take a court order.

    Maybe this could be a great case for one of those (stupid) daytime court TV shows! (Not that I know anything about them...) ;)

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  2. I totally agree with Nate. That is the most assine thing I have heard about. Some people.....

    That story does not relate to you in any way, does it? I know that you bought those dining room chairs a few years back.

    Love
    Mom

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  3. This story does have to do with me. It does not have to do with actual chairs. I wish it were that simple.

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  4. Pretty sure actual possession makes things yours, unless of course it's the government making the claim, and then they just get whatever they want. . . Not seeing any obligation here whatsoever.

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