P'ninat Mishpat Faulty Chimney – part I
The plaintiff (=pl) bought a fireplace/chimney from the defendant (=def) for 12,450 shekels, with the following breakdown: 8,200 for the fireplace, 2,250 for the chimney, 2,000 for installing the chimney. Two years later, 2.5 meters of the chimney corroded, and after asking def to fix it, pl bought a replacement part and fixed it himself. During the third year, the whole part of the chimney within the house corroded. Def did not respond to pl’s demands to replace it, and pl hired a professional to put in a better (complete) chimney for 4,700 shekels. Pl claims that since a chimney should last around a decade, the fact that it corroded so quickly is a sign that it was never an appropriate one. He claims that the fireplace he bought was hotter than def’s older models, and that soon after pl’s purchase, def switched to a more expensive chimney. Def argues that he buys chimneys from a chimney manufacturer on behalf of his customers and gives service for only a year. He assumes that the damage came from pl using wet wood, which he usually tells customers not to do (because he was in a rush at the time, he did not give def instructions).
