Property stolen from movie set, do i have a case?

[Matthew Dodge]

Florida

I was working on a film set, used my personal video camera to film for directors benefit, I was not paid it was with the college I attend. Camera was stolen from his set and was told insurance would likley cover it and now they are saying it will not because I "was not employed by them". The price of the camera was $4000 and would like to take it to small calims. Director had told me to add $1500 to the price on the police report to cover the deductable so I hope I am not at fault for that seeing as I just wanted to get my camera back. I have numerous letters where he contradicts himself. He now claims him or anyone on his staff had not seen me with my camera that day. My question is do I have a case?

 

[Ohiogal]

Okay so you LIED to the police? Can you prove the price of the camera? Can you prove what it was worth? Can you prove you had it that day? Can you prove it was stolen?
YOu can attempt to sue however the problem is unless the director was negligence and that is why it was stolen (which would be tough to prove) then you are going to have to sue the person who STOLE the camera. Do you know who that was?

 

[Matthew Dodge]

no i didnt realize it was fraud till after the fact and even the cop was telling me to. the director had also tried to get me to become an employee of the school i attend because then it would have covered it. to awnser your questions...

yes i have a recipt for my $4000 camera from sony
it was worth $4000 that is the replacment value it was a few months old

many other students were there that day all if not most of them saw me filming earlier in the day (it was a 12 hour day 6am-6pm it happend at like 4pm) he now claims (since i told him i wanted to take him to court or settle) that neither him nor any of his contract employees recall seeing me with the camera that day. so i guess i called the cops for no reason and had been there every other day with it. I have call sheets for many days leading up to and including and after that day.

i have a polive report and another student got his laptop stolen as well the same time and day as my camera from a building across the street.

I had set my camera down on his set in its bag by other people to help with the moveing other equipment from across the street from where we were filming. i guess my case would be that he was neglagence in that his set wasn't secure

the other thing is that they have a production company but did the film under a LLC and he claims im wasting my time cause all funds were depleated...but isnt that like saying "oh i owe you $100 but i dont have it" they still would owe it right?

i guess my other problem is he came and got free labor from the college i attend so he claims i wasnt an employee of him... but even if he didnt pay me or sign a deal memo (cause he didn't want to) i still worked for him and have call sheets to prove it. he orignally told me he had production insurance and handed out sheets of paper to like makeup department and even to the school saying if any of the SCHOOL's property was stolen it would cover it. he said he didnt think to give me one because he didnt think it would get stolen. then after i sent him this last letter he says that each person is an independent contracter and should provide their own insruance.

im hoping i can say it was a verbal contract and that it was his negligence the set wasnt secure. thank you for taking time out to help me...like i said im a 20 year old film student and just lost this $4000 camera and really want to get compensated back for it

 

[justalayman]

I believe any liability the director has (none that I can see) would be overridden by your negligence in maintaining possession of you property.

You are responsible for taking care of your own property.

so what did this guy do that was negligent in you protecting your property?

Did he promise you the set would be secure? Did he give you a place to lock up the camera that failed to be secure? Did he promise to watch the camera while you did whatever the required you release the camera? Did he do anything that would have caused the theft?

The answers are no, no, no, and no.


Are you responsible for watching your own property? is it your fault you set it down and lost track of the camera and it got stolen?

the answers are yes and yes.

Sorry but maybe you should contact your homeowners insurance. That would be the only coverage I can see you might possibly have for this.

 

[Matthew Dodge]

no the director did not tell me it would be secure that would be a given...it should be safe for employees to work there

 

[justalayman]

no the director did not tell me it would be secure that would be a given...it should be safe for employees to work there

why is that a "given"?

Unless there was at least an implied security, then anything you believed to be is not proof of their liability. Can you prove, or even state proof they implied they would be securing the property? Even then, unless you could prove their actions fell short of such a promise, they are still not liable for your loss.

You simply though there should be something that was not required to be provided by them.

Your expectiation of them providing security as you have reminds me a a situation I once had. I was working in a school, after dark, in a bad section of town. The police suggested we did not allow ourselves to be seen through the windows if possible.

Now, do you believe the employer had a duty to secure the area? Well, they didn;t. It was beyond their control and hade no responsibility or liablity for what happened concerning the guys with the guns. It was my decision to staty there and face the problem. I could not be required to staty there is I didnlt want to be there. You had the option of securing your property but you did not. That makes it your fault.

 

[Matthew Dodge]

well in that case NO company says you and or your property will secure so you cant sue an employer? i find that hard to beleive. i was on that set for more than 5 weeks. on the 2nd to the last day i set it down for 10 min to help out with the production.

 

[justalayman]

You are right. Generally you cannot successfully sue an employer for such an action UNLESS there is some reason to believe they did provide security and were negligent in their actions in providing the promised security.

In your case, there was no promise of security therefore no negligence when they did not provide it.

 

[Matthew Dodge]

ok well then theres another way i could do it...

im 20 years old beleive me i don't know much about law

but the production company had insurance...he said it wouldnt cover it cause i "wasnt an employee". i was on the call sheets under the job behind the scenes and was there everyday to film for him. it was with my school so it was free labor..but if you are "voulenteering" wouldnt you still be working for them??

 

[justalayman]

You worked for them but you wre not employed by them. It sounds like this may have been a class assignment or maybe even an internship, which definately removes it from an employer/employee relationship.

Sorry Matt, I don't see you winning on this one.

Have you any homeowners insurance? That may be your best bet.

 

[Matthew Dodge]

yeah see it was a $4000 camera and my parents did a no-intrest no-payment till 2009 thing so its under their name and yes they have homeowners insurance so really its her camera and i was using it would that be covered?