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Rental Agreements
My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Texas
I rented a camera to a company without a rental agreement. The camera got damaged and the company will not pay saying there was no written agreement, so they aren't responsible. I have a rental history with them, and I'm thinking about taking them to small claims court. My argument would be that they've been paying me without a written agreement, and I have the right to have the item returned in a reasonable working condition, contract or not. I was wondering if anyone knew of where I could find a Texas statute or case law that would support my position if I go to small claims court. Thanks!
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Re: Rental Agreements
In general, oral agreements are binding, except for certain matters such as real estate.
The problem with oral agreements is convincing the court what the agreement is.
I would think you would stand an excellent chance in small claims court if you carefully documented the rental history, regardless of any Texas statute or case law.
Also, since you are obviously in the business of renting equipment, you should have business insurance. Do you? Does that cover this loss?
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Re: Rental Agreements
You can sue under oral contract per Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.000's somewhere.
But the problem you have is proving who is responsible for keeping camera in a working condition, and if damage was caused through the normal and reasonable use of the camera. If they pushed the shutter button and something broke in the camera you would probably not get paid, but if they ran over camera or dropped it from an unreasonable height, then you would get paid. This assumes that you've proven an oral agreement exisited via canceled rental checks etc..
Without establishing a contract existed, you would have to prove they purposely damaged the camera or were very unreasonable in caring for it (damage caused by more than just an accident that could have happend had you loaned the camera to Ex Pres. Gerald Ford).
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Re: Rental Agreements
I'm not in the rental business, so I don't have insurance on it. I was renting it to a person I know, who was working for this company. The camera was dropped and has almost $3,000 in damage (video camera). The company, it's actually a non-profit believe it or not, is refusing to pay saying that the person who dropped it is at fault. However, I rented it to them 3 previous times and the non-profit wrote the check, not the individual user. I'm just wondering if I go to small claims court do I have a chance to win. One more thing. The non-profit has also not paid me for the last rental ($800). After I talked to the director, she basically told me to go to court, that they weren't responsible because no rental agreement existed.