1. He took his clothes to a dry cleaner but the clothes were subsequently damaged by the cleaner. Can he claim against the dry cleaner?

1. He took his clothes to a dry cleaner but the clothes were subsequently damaged by the cleaner. Can he claim against the dry cleaner?

The law says the service supplier (dry cleaner) has to take reasonable care of customer's (Mr. B's) property. If the dry cleaner fails to do the job properly, Mr. B can ask him to do it again. If the clothes have been ruined, then the dry cleaner will have to fix them or make compensation.

It may be difficult to work out exactly how much money that Mr. B would be entitled to. He has to take into account how old the clothes were and how much wear he has already gotten out of them. Even though there was a notice saying something like "all garments cleaned entirely at customer's risk", Mr. B can still make his claim. If the dry cleaner has made a mess of the job then a notice like this won't shield him. An exemption has to be reasonable before it can be enforced (see: Unreasonable exemption clauses).