My son threw up on the piano. His lessons are at a piano studio in an office complex. The owner asked if I intended to pay for a professional cleaner and "implied" this could permanently ruin her piano. Again, this is a business, not someone's home, so shouldnt she have insurance for this kind of thing? One more thing, she did mention this was her personal piano. Any legal advice?
Homeowners insurance is generally a named peril insurance. That means, the damage to the property has to be caused by a named peril. Human vomit is not a named peril.
It's very possible that she does not have any type of insurance to cover this type of damage.
And even if she has insurance to cover it……the insurance company will come back after the party that caused the damage — you (since your son is a minor) for repayment. So you're going to end up paying for the damage anyway.
If your son had kicked the piano and caused a hole in it….you would be responsible for that. Why his is vomit not your problem?
I suggest you work with the lady to have her piano cleaned.
It's the right thing to do and as a parent, you are responsible when your minor child damages someone else's property.
If you don't want to pay out of pocket, file a claim with your homeowners coverage and see if your liability coverage will pay for it.
Also….it''s perfectly reasonable for her to hire a cleaner to clean up the piano. Asking someone else to clean up with your child's vomit is just gross! At the very least, it's your kid…YOU clean up his vomit!
If she sues you……your not going to have a legal leg to stand on and probably won't get a whole lot of sympathy from the judge. Time to start acting like an adult and take care of the damage your son caused.