OPINION ISSUED JANUARY 15, 1986

HAMILTON BUSINESS SYSTEMS
VS.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

(CC-85-175)

Templeton B. Hamilton, Jr. appeared for claimant.
Robert D. Pollitt, Assistant Attorney General, for respondent.

PER CURIAM:

Claimant is a West Virginia corporation which, under an equipment
rental agreement with
respondent, provided respondent with a Savin 880 Copier, a sorter and a
console for use from
July 1982 through June 26, 1984. A provision of the agreement reads as
follows:

C. Customer shall use reasonable care in safeguarding the equipment,
and, unless damaged or
destroyed without the negligence or fault of Customer, shall return it
to Hamilton Business
Systems...


The copier was ruined by fire on June 26, 1984, and claimant seeks
$3,029.67, for the
purchase price ($2,831.50) and for interest ($198.17), as compensation
for the loss of the
machine.
T. B. Hamilton, Jr., testified that the position of the claimant is
that respondent has a moral
obligation to reimburse claimant for its loss.
There is no evidence of any negligence or wilful misconduct on the part
of the respondent.
Claimant and respondent follows: are bound by the language of the
equipment rental agreement,
and, on the basis of that agreement, the Court disallows the claim.

Claim disallowed.

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