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View Full Version : My wedding cake didn't show up, can I sue?


iMsoLucky0
07-01-2005, 11:46 PM
Long post, so here is a synopsis: The cake lady didn't show up with our wedding cakes on our wedding day. Can we sue?

I got married last week on Friday. Several months ago my wife went to the cake place and told them exactly what she wanted. She went with her parents several times after that working out the details. I also went and picked out the grooms cake I wanted (an ace of spades). We were over there on the Monday before the wedding making final arrangements. Her parents were over on Tuesday also taking some supplies for the building of the cake. Both cakes had been paid for for over a month. We had several reciepts with the specific date and time on them for the wedding.

On the day, the lady never shows up. We try her numbers, she never answers. We leave several messages, nothing. The next day my wife and I go on our honeymoon and our parents go to the place. The lady says she wrote down thew rong day (even though on the reciepts we have which are copies she made it has the correct date).

This was very traumatic for my wife and myself and for our parents. We think we are entitled to something.

Do we have any basis for a lawsuit? To what might we be entitlted?

istewart
07-01-2005, 11:48 PM
It's possible that your wife is a man and you ordered your cake from the We Hate Gays Bakery.

billyjex
07-01-2005, 11:48 PM
Judge Judy!

jakethebake
07-01-2005, 11:50 PM
Welcome to another episode of "Let's Tie Up the Legal System"!

kyro
07-01-2005, 11:51 PM
[ QUOTE ]
It's possible that your wife is a man and you ordered your cake from the We Hate Gays Bakery.

[/ QUOTE ]

I could be wrong but I think you just might be trying too hard.

[censored]
07-01-2005, 11:52 PM
Yes you can, people sue for stuff like this all the time.

Should you? I don't think so. She made a mistake, clearly and it sucked and yes it inconvenienced you. But did you suffer any real damages from not having cake? tramatic? please. I say be the bigger person and don't take the obvious attempt at a money grab.

Lazymeatball
07-01-2005, 11:57 PM
Your entitled to your money back on the cake, and possibly a "your next wedding cake is free" coupon. This talk of a lawsuit is just an OOT joke right. Normal people would get over this and make it a bad joke at anniversaries.

vulturesrow
07-01-2005, 11:58 PM
Did she refund your money?

iMsoLucky0
07-02-2005, 12:04 AM
[ QUOTE ]
Did she refund your money?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, we took a full refund, as well as her promise to do a few free cakes for us in the future.

As for this being a joke, no it wasn't a joke, but I have never had plans of suing. The reason I was asking is to settle an argument. I thought there was grounds for suing and that we would probably win. My wife and her family did not think we had a right to sue. I did not ever wnat to sue, just wanted to know if it would work.


ALSO, how much monetary compensation would we be entitled to if we did sue and win?

vulturesrow
07-02-2005, 12:09 AM
Im not a lawyer. Would it be possible to sue? Maybe is my wild ass guess. /images/graemlins/smile.gif Probably under breach of contract, but I have no idea what fair compensation would be. Sorry I dont have a better answer.

JoshuaD
07-02-2005, 12:21 AM
My absolutely non-legal opinion is that you have a case. The lady owes you more than the price of the cake, IMO. In contract law, the only thing that can compensate someone in a contract is the exact item promised. You can't sell a painting, and then give them a different painting of equal value.

Similiarly, this lady can't give you the monetary value of the cake and consider her contractual obligation fulfilled.

I think it would be silly to sue, however.

-Skeme-
07-02-2005, 12:26 AM
Saw this case on one of the court shows. It sucks for you, but I wouldn't sue. Full refund and free cakes are nice. Can't you order another personal cake and eat it with your wife in private? Make it romatic, bud. Then SIIHP.

vulturesrow
07-02-2005, 12:31 AM
[ QUOTE ]
Saw this case on one of the court shows. It sucks for you, but I wouldn't sue. Full refund and free cakes are nice. Can't you order another personal cake and eat it with your wife in private? Make it romatic, bud. Then SIIHP.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or find the cake lady one night and SIIHP. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

PhatTBoll
07-02-2005, 12:31 AM
You could sue and win but it would not be worth your time. Move on.

BretWeir
07-02-2005, 12:48 AM
I'm a lawyer, and the short answer is you could sue for the price of the cake, but probably couldn't recover anything more than that.

This is basically a breach of contract case (you agreed to pay her, she agreed to deliver the cake, and she didn't live up to her end of the bargain).

The usual rule is that you can't recover punitive damages based on breach of contract, unless there was some independent wrong apart from the other party's failure to live up to their end of the contract.

Also, the law in most states doesn't allow you to recover for emotional distress just based on a breach of contract. (Though states some do, they're in the minority.)

That said, this sounds like a pretty awful situation. I'll bet that most of the posters telling you just to suck it up and deal have never been through the process of planning a wedding.

dabluebery
07-02-2005, 01:48 AM
So what happened at your wedding? What did they serve for dessert? What did you guys cut? Or did it not happen at all? I feel like such a woman for asking.

I got married a year ago. I thought about this for a long time, wondering if I'd have cared if this happened to me. I definitely wouldn't have cared.

I mean, it would suck, but if that's the worst thing that goes wrong at an elaborate event like a wedding, take it and run. That is, of course, if the catering hall made some sort of arrangement for dessert and for the cake cutting ceremony or whatever else was important.

iMsoLucky0
07-02-2005, 02:12 AM
We had plenty of other food for everyone to eat but no dessert. When we realized the cake wasn't coming, someone ran out to wal-mart and got a 20 dollar celebration cake that we cut for the ceremony. It really didn't bother me much at all, but my wife was very upset by it (she cried). Everything else went perfect.

PokerFink
07-02-2005, 02:35 AM
[ QUOTE ]
I mean, it would suck, but if that's the worst thing that goes wrong at an elaborate event like a wedding, take it and run.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't agree with this. I work as a caterer, so I have been to a LOT of weddings this summer. The vast majority of them go off without a hitch, atleast nothing that the guests would notice. Generally the worst thing that happens is someone's dinner is overcooked. I haven't seen anything even remotely as bad as the cake not showing up.

I don't know what kind of wedding the OP had, but people pay a hundred grand plus for weddings these days. People make their living planning and executing weddings, and they should not be screwing up such an important thing.

To the OP, I'm sure you have grounds for a lawsuit, but I don't think it would be worth the hassle. I would have asked for something like 1.5x the cost of the cake as a refund, but since you can get a free cake, just run with that.

OtisTheMarsupial
07-02-2005, 02:40 AM
I agree with the lawyer. It's breach of contract and basically all you can get is your money back plus a little, but since you've already done that, point's moot.

Insurance companies now sell "wedding insurance" for just these sorts of things. Now, doesn't that make you a little sick to your stomach?

somethingstupid
07-02-2005, 02:42 AM
change your screenname

TStoneMBD
07-02-2005, 07:07 AM
interesting to know.

id also like to add that some people here seem to undermine the situation. most women dream of having the perfect ceremony and this lady basically crushed someones dreams, even if those dreams seem relatively ridiculous to most of us men.

mason55
07-02-2005, 12:39 PM
Hey, at least your wife didn't sleep with the livestock.

SuitedSixes
07-02-2005, 01:14 PM
[ QUOTE ]
id also like to add that some people here seem to undermine the situation. most women dream of having the perfect ceremony and this lady basically crushed someones dreams, even if those dreams seem relatively ridiculous to most of us men.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, what he said. Your wife must have been devastated . . . after she woke up and realized that she married you. All kidding aside, that's pretty bad. I don't know if you have a legal claim, or not, but if this went before a jury with any married women . . . no with ANY women on it you would win 1.5 million dollars . . . easily.

You are basically screwed, by the way. Any time anything wrong happens from here, she will say through sobbing tears, "I should have known when the wedding was ruined without a cake that it was a mistake to get married." Mark. My. Words.


P.S.
I still hate your avatar.

Gunny Highway
07-02-2005, 01:18 PM
[ QUOTE ]
id also like to add that some people here seem to undermine the situation. most women dream of having the perfect ceremony and this lady basically crushed someones dreams, even if those dreams seem relatively ridiculous to most of us men.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, it's a bummer. But anyone so pathetic they take a cake seriously enough to sue deserves to have their dreams crushed.

2+2 wannabe
07-02-2005, 02:04 PM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
id also like to add that some people here seem to undermine the situation. most women dream of having the perfect ceremony and this lady basically crushed someones dreams, even if those dreams seem relatively ridiculous to most of us men.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, it's a bummer. But anyone so pathetic they take a cake seriously enough to sue deserves to have their dreams crushed.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol

ddollevoet
07-02-2005, 04:52 PM
[ QUOTE ]
ALSO, how much monetary compensation would we be entitled to if we did sue and win?

[/ QUOTE ]

The cost of the cake (which was already refunded).

Talk2BigSteve
07-02-2005, 10:54 PM
Did you have Wedding Insurance?

Steve

iMsoLucky0
07-02-2005, 11:28 PM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
id also like to add that some people here seem to undermine the situation. most women dream of having the perfect ceremony and this lady basically crushed someones dreams, even if those dreams seem relatively ridiculous to most of us men.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, it's a bummer. But anyone so pathetic they take a cake seriously enough to sue deserves to have their dreams crushed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Read the thread. We had no plans to sue whatsover, I was just trying to settle an argument.

iMsoLucky0
07-02-2005, 11:28 PM
[ QUOTE ]
Did you have Wedding Insurance?

Steve

[/ QUOTE ]

No.