Jimmy was a very lucky individual, he loved making art and his talent for it was equal to his passion. Such was his talent, that in his early twenties he had developed a very impressive portfolio of paintings and photographs, large enough in number to be able to leave his job in his town shop so he could sell his work to art aficionados in shops and on a market stall. Jimmy made sure his art was as good as it could be, spending time learning how to build frames for his photographs so they looked fantastic and were ready to be put up when the customer got home.
Thirty years on, Jimmy was still passionate about what he did, but the recession had affected his business and what used to be healthy profits had now turned into barely breaking even. People didn't appear to be as eager to buy art now there was less money around. Although Jimmy didn't have the best brain for business in the world, he came up with a simple plan to try and prevent him losing money in future. Jimmy decided he should increase output and do so at a cheaper cost by using cheaper materials.
Jimmy's friend, Robert, may have been considerably older than Jimmy, but the two were good friends from back at Jimmy's first job. Robert was keen on DIY and making things and with both men getting older and finding less time to meet up and see one another, they decided to frame items for a couple of hours each Sunday, enabling them to catch up. Unfortunately Robert's eyesight was weak at best and on a Sunday afternoon he could sometimes become very tired and wasn't getting the nap he was used to. Together, they continued to frame the work and the extra sales were helping his business. Although the pieces continued to be made to a relatively high standard, the frames he made were lighter and less intricate.
One morning that week, a gentleman by the name of Paul came to Jimmy's stall looking at the products, when a framed photograph of an old steam train caught his eye.
"How much for the steam train?" Paul asked.
"£80 for that one, but if you want it in a larger size that can be arranged." Jimmy replied, politely pushing for a bigger sale.
"Oh, that won't be necessary, I don't really have the space for anything bigger than this one."
"Ok then, this one's been framed already so you don't have to worry about much extra work, you just need to hook it on a wall. I'll throw the hook in with the picture if you like." Jimmy offered, eager to sell.
Paul was happy with the offer and paid the £80. With a reasonable amount of money made in just the first hour of trading, Jimmy was a very happy man.
When Paul got home, he already knew the spot where he intended to hang his new picture. He cleared everything off the mantlepiece and nailed the hook into the wall. One that was done, he had the slightly fiddly task of hanging the picture on the hook. Placing it on carefully he stepped back and admired his new decoration. Calling his wife down to check it was straight, she instantly informed him it was indeed wonky.
Holding on to the picture loosely, Paul rotated it until his wife was satisfied with it. He was just millimetres off perfection when the string attaching the picture to the wall snapped. Taking the man by surprise, the picture fell on his head with a hard crack, the glass screen protecting the picture had shattered and blood poured from the resulting wound almost instantly. Paul's wife helped him with his wounds and rushed him to the hospital. When Paul and his wife arrived at the hospital he could barely open his right eye, which was most uncomfortable.
Paul was later informed that his eyesight was going to be significantly affected by the incident and his head wounds still needed regular looking after and cleaning. Although he wasn't a litigious man, Paul's entire lifestyle was changed and it was all because of the poor quality string on the back of the picture he bought from Jimmy. Paul felt obliged to make a claim.
When Jimmy was informed of the claim he was shocked and saddened to hear of the incident, but he also realised and accepted that his faulty product had directly led to it and so he accepted responsibility. He immediately informed his insurance company and in the following weeks the claim was paid for by them.
It was a harsh lesson for Jimmy, who had learned the importance of being properly insured. The claim would have hit him far harder had he not had the insurance for products' liability in place. When Jimmy next met up with Robert he told him what had happened. They were so upset to have indirectly caused someone so much harm by cutting their costs that they agreed it was best to go back to the old method of framing the photographs. Paul's eyesight was luckily not affected as badly as it could have been, but he was grateful to have been adequately compensated for his injury.
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