I broke an expensive object that my roomate borrowed from a friend. Am I responsible for repaying the owner?

Question

here is the story:
My roommate borrowed a $400 vase (it wasn't a vase but it kind of looked like one) from his friend.

About two months after my roommate borrowed this "vase" it happened to be standing on the floor next to the couch in our living room (I was not the one that put it there, and I never used that "vase" for anything). We were watching a movie, so the room was fairly dark, and on my way to the kitchen I accidentally knocked the "vase" over and the vase broke. A $100 piece of the vase remained unharmed.

Now the owner of the "vase" expects me to pay him $200 for braking the vase. The owner told me that "he is being nice for only making me pay for half of it".

Although I have more than enough money to pay him saved, since I am college student, I don't have a steady source of income, so $200 is not pocket change for me.

Please give me your honest opinion on weather I should pay him for braking the vase or not.

thank you for your responses, and sorry that this is so long.

Answer 1

Usually I'd say if you break it, you pay, but if your roommate really put it in a very vulnerable spot (I don't know how your couch is placed) then he's at least partly responsible. Perhaps splitting the cost would indeed be a good plan.

Answer 2

I must say I am in agreement with "Mitch" when he comments that you didn't borrow the object, you didn't intentionally break the object thus your responsibility is somewhere between minor and none. Or as he so eloquently put it, don't pay "squat"

Although paying for the "vase" type thing, would be nice, it sounds like it may be foolish.

Who said it was worth or cost $400... ??

And if that was the value I'm with the person that made the comment, if it's broken, it's broken and I'm totally at a loss as to how a "piece" can be worth $100.00.

If you are intending to go along with the majority of nice people responding that suggest paying the $200.00. Do yourself a favor.

Ask the friend for proof of the purchase price, take the pieces to someone who specializes in the sale of whatever this "vase" type thing actually is and get an objective value of the object.

I don't know how long you've known your roommate, or how close the two of you are but the whole thing sounds like a scam to me.

I am assuming that your roommate is somewhat aware that you are able to come up with the cash. He shouldn't expect you to pay for something that is actually his responsibility and
the owner of the vase definately should not have approached you on the subject anyway.


If we are at all concerned about the "Ediquette" of the situation.
Your roommate pays his friend for the broken object that HE borrowed.


Depending on the closeness of your relationship with your roommate, you could offer to split some portion of the cost.
Not an obligation but a token of regret for accidently breaking the object and friendship.

That would be your option, not your obligation

Good Luck

Answer 3

The most equitable solution would be for you to pay $100 and your roommate to pay $100. You are both equally responsible for the vase (your roommate for putting the vase on the floor, and you for breaking it).

If you don't have the money right away, see if you can pay this person $50 a paycheck.

Answer 4

Why someone would borrow a vase of all things is beyond me... let alone such an expensive one. I know it's a steep cost, but it's only right you should pay the amount the owner asked. Express your apologies and ask if you could pay in chunks, like $50 at a time. Just explain that you don't have the $200 now but that you are more than willing to pay. Put it in writing and follow through.

Answer 5

I think you should pay him the $200 and own up to the fact that you broke something that belonged to someone else. Since your roommate was the one who borrowed it and most likely put it in the place where you knocked it over, then your roommate should put up half of the $200.

How could it be determined that the unbroken piece was worth $100? I would think if a vase was broken then it would be completely broken,

You mispelled a couple of words. One word in this case is spelled break not brake. Brake is something used to stop a car. Also the word is spelled whether not weather. Weather deals with the conditions outside (i.e. sunny, rain, snow).

You say you are in college? With the wrong spelling of words like that, it scares me as to the educational future of kids these days.

Answer 6

It is my personal opinion that if you have to ask this question, you are not much of a friend. It doesn't matter what condition the vehicle was in when you got it, once you drove it off of her property you were responsible for it. You knew ahead of time it was in bad shape mechanically but you chose to use it anyway. The fact it broke down before you finished with it does not relieve you of the responsibility to see it is returned to the "friend". If it was my friend, I would do whatever necessary to return it to her home and pay the total amount because she was good enough to loan it to me in the first place, but that's just me and my interpretation of friendship. Her threat to call the cops probably came from the pain and disappointment she felt when you dumped on your friendship by offering to pay for only half the tow bill. I know it would have hurt my feelings if one of my friends did that to me. As an Officer I can tell you that she cannot report it as a stolen vehicle because she loaned it to you. However, if she request you return it and you refuse, she can then file charges for theft. If I was her, I would, and then cut you loose. With friends like you a person can do without enemies.

Answer 7

No, It is not your responsibility to pay for it. It is your roommates responsibility. You are not the one who borrowed it in the first place. Your roommate should have made sure it stayed out of harms way (which placing it on the floor is clearly not). Tell the owner to sue you. He's not being nice, he's being a prick and going after the wrong person. Your roommate needs to work that out with the owner. If you felt like being nice, you could help your roommate with the cost, but you should not feel obligated to do so. Think about it, If you borrowed something breakable that cost $400, would you put it on the floor?? Good Luck.

Answer 8

first of all you broke it accidentally and didnt mean to do it. your roommate shouldnt've been so careless to leave something he borrowed from someone else in some random spot. secondly you and your room mate should both pay the guy 100 bucks each for the vase thingy and end the situation then never to speak of it again and in the future when your roomy borrows stuff from his friends tell him to leave it in his room and not where anything can happen to it. this is an expensive mistake and hopefully you both learn from it.

Answer 9

Roomate borrowed it and is responsible for taking care of that person's possessions and returning it in the condition it was received.

The owner should expect to be made whole, either by a new vase or the money. Your roommate has this responsibility. NOT you.

Up to you and your roommate to work out whether you and roommate will share the financial burden, NOT the owner of the vase.

Answer 10

In my opinion, i think that you and the person that borrowed it should split the cost. The person that borrowed the vase should'vve put it in a safe place where nothing would've happend to it and you accidentally broke it. Good luck.