A judge’s gavel.Nikolay Mamluke/Getty Images/iStockphoto
A squabble between two 19-year-old friends that pitted the men's families against each other and even dragged family pets into the fray reached a Nova Scotia court earlier this year. At the centre of the argument? A bed soaked with urine.
According to records from the small claims court in Dartmouth, adjudicator Eric K. Slone was faced with an unsual question in February of this year: who wet the bed?
Evan Williams and Jeremy Gaillard, both 19, were friends who had gone out drinking one night in October of last year, the court decision says. After Jeremy admitted to having drank "between eight and ten beers," they arrived at the home of Mr. Williams' parents around 1 a.m. in the morning. Mr. Gaillard slept over in Mr. Williams' sister's room, who was out of town, and the next morning, went home.
But when Mr. Williams' sister returned home later that day, "she found her bed all wet and smelling strongly of urine," the court was told. Jeremy denied wetting the bed, so the Williams family decided to sue for $583.92 (the cost of replacing the mattress and having the bedding professionally cleaned).
Mr. Williams' parents sued not only Mr. Gaillard, but his parents as well.
Amongst the evidence brought to court was the wet bedding, which "the court declined to inspect though invited to do so."
In his decision on the case, Mr. Slone said that Mr. Gaillard was likely guilty, and ordered him to pay for the damages as well as the cost of issuing the claim. "I realize that some young men can tolerate a lot of alcohol, but eight to ten beers is also a lot of liquid and given the amount of alcohol in his system it is entirely plausible that he could have involuntarily urinated on this occasion," Mr. Slone said.
Mr. Slone added that it was unlikely that the family dog or cat had been responsible, "given the large quantity of urine apparently found."
He said it was "unfortunate" that the incident had to come before a public court, but commended the Williams' motivations to "foster a sense of personal responsibility" on the part of Mr. Gaillard.
"Legally speaking, people are responsible for their negligent acts," Mr. Slone said. "Urinating on and ruining someone else's bed would fall below any acceptable standard of care."