Tank disaster

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Likely cheaper to pay a settlement.

Not if it establishes a precedent where they will then be held responsible for any livestock lost to future tank failures. Not even close. They should in no way be held responsible for the fish or corals in that tank and to say otherwise is based on an emotional and not a legal argument.
 
Not if it establishes a precedent where they will then be held responsible for any livestock lost to future tank failures. Not even close. They should in no way be held responsible for the fish or corals in that tank and to say otherwise is based on an emotional and not a legal argument.

Forgive me as Im not an attorney, but do civil suits establish legal precident?
 
He doesn't eat the cost of damages. The homeowners insurance eats the cost for damages. The tank company offers a new tank, which I believe they did.

I didn't see where he stated that home owners covered the damage. I called my insurance and it's not necessarily covered, depends on the situation. Even if it is covered; likely there is a deductible that the homeowner has to cover.

Having said that, if court finds that the blowout was due to a manufacturing defect/negligence and not just an accident, there is absolutely a cause for damages for livestock, equipment and home damage.

If there is no manufacturing defect and it is just an accident then livestock etc wouldn't / shouldn't be covered
 
He was out the tank, wood fascia from stand, electronics from tank ruined when flood, Livestock, sand, live rock, all his personal property, rugs, couches, and other things that were not covered on his insurance claim. This stuff adds up quickly. The tank did not spring a small leak, that would be what I figure a warranty would be for. The Front panel came unglued. What he is asking for is a fraction of what this disaster cost him. Anyways today is Friday so Eddie are you going to figure this out and get back to Ivan like you said you were going to do at the show?
 
There is no way the court makes the manufacturer pay for damages. No way! Homeowners insurance pays for damage to the house. Cadlights offered to replace the tank. Anything living in that tank is the sole responsibility of the owner, end of story.

It is tragic and terrible that it happened, but tank failures can and do happen when there are tens of thousands of them out there in operation. Just because you are emotionally attached to something doesn't mean that a company is all of a sudden legally responsible for paying thousands and thousands of dollars for no reason.

Tanks don't fail for no reason after only a few years of use. If there is testimony that the stand was level, the court will presume defective manufacture under a res ipsa loquitur theory. Unless Cadlights can prove that some other cause of the failure, they will be held strictly liable for all foreseeable damages. You don't think that the loss of fish, coral, etc is foreseeable if a tank fails like this one did? As for insurance, the collateral source rule may allow for full recovery against Cadlights despite any insurance unless the insurance company sues also.

Forgot to mention, the attempted limitations on the warranty regarding using their plumbing supplies, stand, etc. may be a violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty act. If so, Cadlights might be liable for the other sides attorney fees, which could really raise the stakes.
 
This is horrible.

My prediction, OP will have to sue since there is no way Cadlights will willingly do anything substantial to compensate him. Do you guys really think this slightly sketchy company out of some warehouse in Ontario really covered all its bases and signed up for all the policies and whatnot they need to? Its all about $$$ and slanging as many tanks as possible for as low a cost. I seriously doubt Cadlights has like, some "tank artisans", putting these things together. They are trying to make MONEY and that does not involve signing up for costly insurance policies or hiring engineers to do complicated calculations.

This REALLY ****es me off. What an incredibly convenient warranty situation you've set up for yourself Eddie. Like that other guy said, what f'ing percentage of your customers qualify for your warranty after those caveats? When I bought my 50 cube from you, you never said to me, "oh hey and by the way, your warranty is totally void unless you have me build the cabinet, install the tank and set up the plumbing."

I've got a 50 Cadlights cube sitting on their crappy MDF stand that I was about to set up in my office but now that sounds like a terrible idea to me. What right minded person would buy a Cadlights tank at this point. Like if you want to buy their skimmer or something sure but why chance it and buy a Cadlights?

So OP, sorry to hear you probably won't see much compensation from "Eddie" but there is no way their business will not take a serious hit after this incident. Eddie, its 2015 man did you seriously think people on Reef Central of all places wouldn't make a huge stink about this?
 
In the grand scheme, this is not going to effect their business. It is a small dedicated few who browse these forums. Tanks fail. It's the nature of the beast. They did what they said they would and offered a new one. OP is being unreasonable in expecting what basically amounts to emotional compensation because of his attachment to his fish/corals and what he had created.
I would think more than a few people, who are going to buy a large custom aquarium, would do a search for the companies they are considering for the build.

There is more than a few posts on this forum alone, about builds and people asking for input.

I would hope the OP would post a thread titled "CADlights tank disaster" and link back here, if there continues to be no remedy from the manufacturer.

Personally, I research whatever equipment I'm looking into. Even before this thread, I did not have a positive regard for CADlights, because of other complaints about their products I have read on forums over the years.

I have never owned one of their products based on other reviews, combined with this, I never will.

Considering their warranty as applicable in this situation does not make sense to me.
Kind of like how your car manufacturer warranty may not cover something or has expired, but if there is a defect in the car they are still liable. Like faulty ignition switches, faulty air bags, faulty emission systems...
Faulty engineering or faulty seams in a tank seems like a manufacturer responsibility.
 
wood fascia from stand, electronics from tank ruined when flood, all his personal property, rugs, couches, and other things that were not covered on his insurance claim.

That should all be covered by a homeowners policy. If it wasn't, he bought a really, really budget policy and he should be asking his agent why they sold him something that's basically worthless.

The only thing not covered by a homeowners (ho3) in this instance is living things.
 
I would think more than a few people, who are going to buy a large custom aquarium, would do a search for the companies they are considering for the build.

There is more than a few posts on this forum alone, about builds and people asking for input.

.

Reefcentral represents a small fraction of the hobbyist buying large tanks. The vast majority will never visit a forum.
 
That should all be covered by a homeowners policy. If it wasn't, he bought a really, really budget policy and he should be asking his agent why they sold him something that's basically worthless.

The only thing not covered by a homeowners (ho3) in this instance is living things.

and who would cover the deductible ?
 
Reefcentral represents a small fraction of the hobbyist buying large tanks. The vast majority will never visit a forum.

This thread has had almost 600 views in the past hour. Total now over 14,000.

Reef central has over 40,000 following on tapatalk. 275,000 in the member directory.
 
That should all be covered by a homeowners policy. If it wasn't, he bought a really, really budget policy and he should be asking his agent why they sold him something that's basically worthless.

The only thing not covered by a homeowners (ho3) in this instance is living things.

And according to your thought process it's ok to charge the home owners insurance even if it's proven to be a negligent manufacturing error? How does that make any sense? Let the warranty weasel-out job stand and screw the homeowners policy? Even if there is no case law before this, this case can and should change the industry warranty
 
This thread has had almost 600 views in the past hour. Total now over 14,000.

Reef central has over 40,000 following on tapatalk. 275,000 in the member directory.

That's total views, not unique individuals. And many many many of those accounts have zero interaction with the site. That you can see.

On top of that millions of tanks are sold every year. It's pretty simple math to see that this forum is a real minority.
 
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