Social Question
In Civil Court, how do you place monetary value on irreplaceable items with value beyond the cost of the materials, such as art or hierloons?
This is long, but not boring.
A woman I know was renting a room from another woman—they were friends from eighth grade until their mid thirties and then drifted apart, and last summer, in their early forties, found each other on Facebook.
“Karen” rented a room from “Kim”—though it became obvious that Kim was on drugs. Karen helped Kim get her house in order, since a child was living there and the family needed foodm soap and detergent, dishes, etc. And the house needed cleaning and repairs. For whatever reason, Kim seemed very jealous of Karen’s things, even of Karen’s boyfriend.
One cold, rainy night when Karen returned from an appointment, Karen was inexplicably locked out of the house with nowhere to go and nothing but the clothes on her back and the few items she took with her (her purse). There was not much explanation.
Kim tried to keep all of Karen’s possessions locked in her home, but did return most of them when the police were mentioned. However, Kim did not return everything. Soon, Kim starts flaunting Karen’s clothes (which Kim stole) on Facebook and wearing them in public—including items I myself bought for Karen.
When I (a third party) and the police (peacekeeping force) showed up, Kim defiantly said, in front of the police, that the police could not get in her home without a warrant and that Karen was not getting her things back and that she would destroy them. The police wanted to help but couldn’t so they advised Karen to pursue the matter in civil court.
Kim says this is payback for some real or imagined event that happened when they were in High School, some 28 years ago (keep in mind, Kim and Karen were friends until about nine or ten years ago).
One of these items is an irreplaceable chalk portrait of Karen at about age 15 that has stunning depth and artistic quality—it may have been about $100 originally, and means a great deal to Karen—well beyond the current cost of a chalk drawing. Art has a quality and depth that is far more valuable than its materials, especially irreplaceable items.
I find it hard to believe that the worth of this portrait is only that of a chalk portrait. Can the court compensate for the true worth of this item? Its well above $100 since it was done at a unique time and age, its artistic worth, and its irreplaceable quality.
Most items have a discernible value, but how do you estimate the value of such items?
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