Liability for damages: who is responsible?

Questioner

Early August I was asked to DJ at a party in a catering location in Utrecht. The space was rented by party X, who rents this space weekly for their weekly recurring parties. On the evening in question, this party X asked party Y to 'host' the party (i.e. to make sure that DJs would come and play). I was in turn asked by party Y to come and play at the party, as an unpaid favor to a friend. So there is an official contract between party X and the catering establishment, but no official contract between party X and party Y, and no official contract between party Y and myself. The only agreements that have been made between party X and Y, and between party Y and myself, are Facebook messages and verbal agreements. During this evening I brought my DJ mixer to use it there myself. Towards the end of my DJ set it suddenly got stuck and did not respond anymore - we smelled a burnt smell. Later that same evening there were also problems with the power supply (failure) in another room of the same catering establishment. My mixer is back from the repairman now, and he had to put in a new power supply (at 160 euros), because the power supply was blown by an external peak voltage. According to the repairman, the damage is clearly due to an external power source and has nothing to do with a malfunctioning device. As you can understand, I would like to hold 'someone' liable for the damage to my mixer, and therefore recover the repair costs from him. When I told party Y about my damage, he said something along the lines of 'I only invited some DJs, it was the party night of party X'. When I asked party X, they waved away my request for compensation with the lines of 'we have been renting this space for years, and have never had any problems, so it must be your mixer'. After insisting again that this is NOT the case (see opinion of repairman, as well as the other problems surrounding the power supply that occurred that evening), they now seem to be ignoring me - because I get no response to email, phone, text messages etc. I have also asked party Y to stand up for me, and to contact party X about this problem - but party X is not cooperating with party Y either. A long story, but with a short question: who can I hold liable? - Party X (because this is the responsible organization for this evening and also received the proceeds from the ticket sales?) - Party Y (after all, they asked me to provide the friend's service) - Catering matter (apparently this had a poor power supply that evening) - Or a combination of the above parties (e.g. I hold party X liable, and they hold the location liable?) And once it is clear who I should hold liable, how should I do that? Thank you so much for your help with this question!

Lawyer

Your damages amount to 160 euros. My first comment is that it is of course your right to claim this, but there is no point in starting a case for this amount if no one wants to pay, as unpleasant as that may sound. You have not made any agreements with the owner of the location and - ultimately - not with party X either, so it is not immediately obvious to address the landlord or party X. It is reasonable to address party Y. What makes it complex, however, is that you indicate that this is an unpaid favor to a friend. The conclusion could then be that there is an unpleasant coincidence for which you cannot hold Y liable. Legally it is therefore complex. That answer may not be satisfactory to you, but to interpret this case legally, the necessary research is required and the financial interest of 160 euros does not justify that effort in my opinion.

Questioner

Thanks for your answer, good to know where I stand. I understand that the 160 euros is indeed not worth going into, but the 'case' ultimately serves a higher purpose for me; what would happen if my equipment were to be totaled during a similar performance (damage 1500-2500 euros)? I think the most important lesson is to always draw up a contract, whether it's a favor to a friend or not. Thanks again for your time and response!

Lawyer

If that is the return on this experience, it will have been useful again ;-)