3. If You Break It Do You Really Have to Buy It?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/07/28/if_you_break_it_do_you_really_have_to_buy_it_.html

Daniel Lamentti wrote an article about how shop owners and unreasonably priced item(s) possessors can make a person pay for the damage done to their possessions, whether or not they have a "you break it, you buy it," sign. The article introduced the case by mentioning how a rich man accidentaly broke a bottle of cognac worth $78,000, but the owner did not make the man pay for it. His question at the end of the introductory paragraph left the readers doubtful about the "you break it, you buy it" policy. Lamentti answered his own question by saying that owners do have the right to make another person pay for the damage made to their belongings. This structure was effective in the way that it made the reader surprised, and more interested in how and why this was possible. The rest of the article discussed two legal ways in which the "you break it, you buy it" proverb worked; either the sign was considered a contract, or the person was claimed to have been negligent.

This article was directed to the public in general, and the author's main purpose of writing this was mainly to inform something many people did not know, or were not aware of - that owners can and have the right to make someone pay for damage made to their belongings. Lamentti wrote the article unbiased, and did not show any personal opinions regarding the subject. He also discussed various "situations" and used them as examples to make his explanations clearer.