Restaurant Liability: What to Do?

Questioner

my question is if i can hold a restaurant liable, if my coat is no longer present in the restaurant after dinner. maybe someone took the wrong coat and they called as many customers as possible and mentioned on facebook if someone took the wrong coat. after a few text messages with the owner, I received a message that unfortunately it did not work and on my next visit I will get a bottle of prosecco as a gift. but i don't want a bottle of prossecco, but i want my coat back. they indicated upon arrival that they wanted to take my coat, then i expect them to also supervise, but ok, it can happen that someone takes the wrong one. not angry about that, but about the reaction of the company, what can i do?

Lawyer

You can hold the restaurant liable. They offered to take your coat and 'keep' it. Legally, this is an agreement of safekeeping. The restaurant did not exercise the care that you might expect. After all, they apparently hung your coat in a room where other guests can also come. Hold liable in writing with purchase receipt or date of purchase and new value. Incidentally, you are not entitled to the new value. Finally: the restaurant will probably be insured for this type of incident.

Questioner

in the above response to my question, I have held the company liable in writing. Yesterday I received a response back and they reject liability. 'Dear sir , I am informing you on your behalf. Accepting and hanging your coat on a coat rack that is accessible to everyone is not a formal custody on which you base your liability claim. In this case, our insured performs a limited action as a service that you would normally have done yourself, such as holding a door open. This is different in the case of a cloakroom where a fee is requested for custody. Your formal notice of liability or claim is therefore unfortunately unfounded. I regret that I cannot inform you otherwise. BCC: What else can I do about this, I do not agree with the findings.

Lawyer

You can hire an external lawyer who will send a substantiated response and hopefully increase the pressure enough. If this does not work either, litigation is the only option. I do not know what the current value of the coat was, but it seems to me that the costs will exceed the benefits in a lawsuit.