We briefly mentioned a lawsuit in which a bride (who happens to be a lawyer) was suing her florist for $400,000 after she was disappointed with the wedding flowers she paid $30,000 for.
Now, the Wall Street Journal has tracked down the filing so we can bask in the litigiousness of it all.
According to the filing, the florist is accused of “materially failing to perform in accordance with” their agreement by ” substituting different and less expensive flowers than the ones required under the contract, and failing to provide specific items Plaintiffs paid for.” They’re also accusing the florist of “using wilted and/or browned flowers, leaving the event without filling half the centerpieces with water” and “using dusty or dirty vases.”
One interesting part of the complaint (from a consumer standpoint) is the bride’s assertion that she was falsely lead to believe that the florist didn’t accept credit card payments, and such deception is a common tactic of shady wedding vendors. From the complaint:
“It is a common scheme for wedding vendors to claim that they do not accept credit card payments and instead require money to be paid upfront and in a non-refundable form. Wedding services are unique in the sense that payment is usually required upfront prior to receiving services, not after. Often, dishonest vendors insist upon payment by cash or check so that in the event of a dispute, it will be harder for the bride to get back her money. “
Elana Glatt, Tobi Glatt, and David Glatt V. Posy Floral Design Studios, INC and Paula Arakas (PDF) [WSJ via WSJ Law Blog]
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@latemodel: Thats easily worked around for vendors like a florist. They simply set up their wedding services as a seperate unit of the business. So their “In store” or immediate order business (like delivery or immediate orders) can take a card, while a planned event like a wedding, that requires advanced planning and payment would be set up as “XYZ florist EVENTS” and can refuse cards without angering VISA.
I go to a restaurant regularly that is the same way. I eat there or order same day takeout (sometimes for 10-12 people) for events and can pay with a CC any time. At the same time if I set up a future event for 50 that requires a deposit they will require a cash or check payment. They also do so because they usually need the cash to pay for the supplies for that specific event.
If I spend $30K on flowers, they had better damn skippy be perfect.
Not that I would spend 30K on flowers, because that’s retarded.
@ConRoo:
I’m glad you were able to work it out with your florist.
Unfortunately, this young lady tried to work it out with the florist and the florist refused. He was trying to ‘stick it to her’.
It is all how you look at it. And THIS florist didn’t want to take care of it quickly and quietly. He assumed that she would make threats and drop it. She didn’t.
You are correct that people should always try to work stuff like this out. She did. The florist refused to work with her. She initially asked for $4k back and he wouldn’t budge.
So what should she have done?
@Major-General:
If her contract had that language, then she has no case. I can tell you that our contract had no such language. Florist was to (and did) provide X centerpieces consisting of Y flowers of Z size, and had a photo of the sample she prepared.
@morganlh85:
Why?
Let’s change the material. Instead of flowers, she bought a car.
She ordered a $30,000 Acura TL with sunroof, bluetooth, DVD audio, leather – the works.
Instead, she was delivered a used TSX with cloth and none of the features she ordered.
Is it okay for her NOW to sue?
Why get hung up on the fact that she spent that much on flowers?
Don’t people who spend more money than you would have deserve justice?
Aren’t the rich just as protected as the poor under our system of bling justice?
Why deny a woman her due just because you don’t approve of the way she spends her money?
If she bought a $2000 diamond necklace and found out later that it was cubic zirconia, would you sympathize with her?
Who care what she spends her money on? It’s HER MONEY!
@ConRoo:
My uncle did a family wedding a couple of years ago, and I remember that he remarked that the flowers the vendor got were not quite the right color, but since he couldn’t reorder and that they were pretty close, he just worked with them and made it great anyway. Sure they weren’t the exact colors he was hoping for, but I don’t think anyone noticed that there was more green than intended and the flowers were 10% darker than he ordered (or however much it was).
@JustAGuy2: And as part of the signing of said contract, she may have required the removal of that clause. Just because it is in the contract doesn’t mean you have to agree to that part. Cross it out and initial the change, have the other person initial the change, and for kicks have a third party initial the change as a witness. Wish we could do that with wireless carriers…
$30K on things that will die within days. Talk about a consumption mentality.
My wedding didn’t cost $30K. Hell, my wedding didn’t cost $5K, and we had a nice wedding.
/I’m in the wrong business.
//I don’t accept credit cards either.
30K worth of flowers does not equate a 400K lawsuit. I don’t care how emotionally damaging it was. For that kind of money, you should be smart enough to pay a deposit up front and the rest upon delivery. At that point you see the delivery, it doesn’t meet your expectationsm and you refuse the remaining money. Common sense. If a deposit isn’t allowed, you pay with something you can cancel like a check or credit card. Flowers could not possibly be purchased so far in advance that a check couldn’t be cancelled in time or a stop payment issued. A lawyer of all people should know the laws and know what the vendor can and cannot get away with. If you can afford to pay for 30K worth of flowers then you can take the time to find a reputable vendor, argue for a deposit system, and find a way to cover your ass. I have zero sympathy for this situation.
Goodness. All this talk of expensive flowers is making me want to double check with my florist. I know for a fact that my florist has a great reputation, and I’ve met with her twice already to discuss things. This woman needs to get her money back, but not $400k in damages.
This reminds me of that judge who sued the cleaner over his pants….
If a deposit isn’t allowed, you pay with something you can cancel like a check or credit card.
@hexychick: Please read the article.
I guess ‘rich lawyers’ don’t deserve the same treatment as poor people?
@fejjnagaf: No, because people who have lots of money and actually spend it on things are clearly insane. Rich people should shop at the Dollar General and save their money. Not to spend on something pricey later, just save it until they’re dead.
@Yourhero88: Wow, you’re an asshole!
@bohemian: Can starving people eat flowers? Cause I’m not following the logic here.
Wow, what a happy way to start off married life.
I bet her husband is thinking he got the great end of the deal–although he probably didn’t have much choice; if he’d ended their relationship she’d have sued him for something…
@Consumerist Moderator – ACAMBRAS:
Thank you. Nice to see Consumerist cleaning up a bit.
@bohemian: There are people starving in Africa.
The people starving in Africa should learn to grow flowers.
@Rectilinear Propagation:
Nice!
I’m off to go return everything I’ve ever bought.
@Scarfish:
And that’s the most prickish comment, save for the ‘shoot her in the face’ comment.
I’m sure the husband can’t be too upset with it, as a win will result in a nice financial settlement.
Perhaps in your world, the ideal wife is quiet and allows you to get screwed by whomever chooses to screw you, me? I’d rather have someone who cares enough to fight a bit.
@hexychick:
You are a nutbag.
She did what she should have done and didn’t do anything wrong, yet you impugn her for it.
Why? Because you, in your infinite wisdom and clear understanding of both the law and how lawsuits work, think she is wrong to ask for that much money.
It’s sort of like how you buy a house – you can’t offer the exact amount you want to buy it for, because that is viewed as an introduction to negotiations.
As a home seller, you also cannot list your house at the exact price you wish. If you list at $200k, the potential buyer might offer $185k, but he/she will not offer $200k unless he/she is a complete and total moron (or a first time homebuyer who didn’t get any help, which qualifies them as a complete and total moron anyway).
It is about setting a high enough ceiling so that she gets fairly compensated.
If she sues for $35k, but the jury feels she deserves $100,000, they can’t award her more than what she sued for.
i love it when people who are ignorant pretend they know better…..
@Consumerist Moderator – ACAMBRAS: Sorry, didn’t see your post before I shot my mouth off.
@Bay State Darren:
I’m keeping an eye on things.
@JayP71:
Thanks.
@fejjnagaf:
You are making some valid points, but there’s no need to cheapen your argument by namecalling.
I’ve worked at a couple of these events – not weddings, but big society activities which share most of the same characteristics as a wedding reception (an anniversary, a fashion show, a museum fundraiser, a charity concert, a ballet foundation gala, and so forth). One of the hot hotels in my city, booked for years in advance, costs a minimum of $35,000 + 20% gratuity + 8.25% sales tax for a four hour event with dinner – one can expect a much higher price with alcohol. It’s the sort of place you’d enjoy a $500-a-plate dinner to support your favorite presidential candidate. Once booked, this exquisitely expensive room can be expected to be filled to near capacity with approximately 50 round tables of 8-10 seats apiece, each with a $350 centerpiece ($150 of which may be the vase, which could be auctioned for charity for some of these events) and about a $10 chair decoration of some sort. Assume another $500 for buffet table and entryway flowers, and several hundred dollars more if it happens to be an event that needs Christmas trees, a balloon drop, or whatever. My math brings the total florist cost for such an event to near $20,000 after tax, and I don’t live in New York City, where one can only imagine the luxe market is even more overheated.
You can tsk-tsk all you like, but the sort of florist who can even begin to -imagine- fulfilling a $30,000 order works in such figures every single weekend and they know good and well what will happen if they do not live up to their contract.
I’m still getting lots of flagged reports about YourHero88′s comment. He has been taken care of.
Thanks again for calling the comment to my attention.
@fejjnagaf:
I really don’t want the law rewarding people for being hysterical about their wedding. It shouldn’t matter is she spent a year obsessing over Martha Stewart weddings or was trying to use her wedding to impress her firm’s partners. There was an event, and allegedly the wrong color flowers were delivered. Period. I don’t care if it’s a wedding or a VFW luncheon: if I’m on that jury I’m not rewarding someone for losing all perspective whatsoever.
And please, don’t generalize to make all women sound this shallow:
Being as the modern wedding has become one of the most significant parts of the brides life, .
My guess would be, unless she’s as crazy as Mr. Pants, she’s not going to push for the full 400k. It’s in the nature of our system to encourage complainants to ask for as much as they can, but punitive damages don’t usually fly that far, and even many of the giant jury awards we hear about are later reduced by the judge if the judge determines it’s too ridiculous. You’re also legally required to bring every connected claim you might ever wish to bring against this person, so you see a lot of stretching at this phase.
Mind you, I’m going to be a lawyer, and will probably be able to afford $30k flowers at my wedding, but, man, fuck that noise.
@winter_in_asia: My stepdad was the same way for the rare instances when he took wedding photos.
He asked for a deposit, which was applied to the photos purchased by the couple – even if they were family friends or fellow church members, business is business.
I don’t see anything wrong in anyone requiring a deposit when it comes to those services. If I’m asking someone to take their entire day to photograph my wedding, or make an extravagant cake, I know that I’ll be expected to put down something for that person’s time and labor dedicated to my “big day”.
you know, i can hear out both parties in this…and i don’t think anymore’s really said anything about this, so i will.
yes, the woman spent an obscene amount of money on her wedding. i don’t nessecarily agree with that, as my wedding was the full out white dress, church wedding with a simple picnic-style reception with a five tier cake and a dance with a beer keg and the whole thing was done for under $5,000, including my dress and the flowers. but as a bride, i know how much it means to have things just as you always dreamt of. all my flowers were silks, but i wouldn’t stop until i found enough PERFECT silk stargazer lilies to make my bouquet, two bridesmaid boquets, two altar arrangements and other perfect silks to do the rest of the arrangements. when you’ve worked so hard to plan out color schemes and flowers and the whole nine yards, to have something completely different show up is heartbreaking, and to be told to sit on it by the vendor who failed to provide is adding salt to the wound. the florist could have at least made a courtesy call to the bride and worked together with her to try to find suitable replacements. two days before my wedding, when our tuxes showed up, my husband’s jacked didn’t fit and his white tie was so grossly dirty it was actually a bit brownish were replaced within 24 hours of me making the complaint. and the tuxes were ordered in from a distributor out of state.
now i also can see where the florist was coming from. flowers come and go out of season, colors can vary by supplier and also by each individual flower. i couldn’t imagine having to deal with that on a daily basis. mix ups happen. i can understand why the flowers were used, but what i don’t understand is why the florist couldn’t pick up the friggin’ phone and make a simple phone call. i guess i come from too small a town to realize that people in bigger cities are just too busy to give a shit. the florist in my hometown called me before my junior prom called to ask if it was ok to sub hot pink roses for the light pink i ordered for my corsage and boutiniere. but, with this case, the flowers were there and i’m sure they had to be used, so what the heck. still, to me, i do see that pink and red or rust colored flowers are two very different colors. it would have been like giving me calla lilies (which i absoloutely despise) in substitution for stargazer lilies without my consent.
Call me crazy, but anyone who spends $30,000 on flowers for their wedding is asking for trouble. I just got married and the flowers cost…like, $20 for two nice bouquets of roses and some wildflowers? How many flowers does this lady need?
My own experience putting together my own wedding is this: Every vendor you deal with–caterers, florists, printers and all the rest–when they see a bride, what they see is a moron with a bank roll.
Folks, this is where Bridezillas come from.
I have never had my intelligence insulted quite so much, before or since, by so many would-be scam artists, insisting that my and my intended’s families would be insulted/disappointed/appalled/mortified for generations to come (1) if I didn’t allow these goniffs to substitute their taste for mine–at a mark-up, of course. (When this happens, do not suggest that the ghastly opinions of these people–who are invariably the sort I’ve heard referred to hereabouts as “New York City Hillbillies”–are motivated by anything other than their own precious, precious taste. Their lips start to quiver. It’s very uncomfortable.)
Snark aside, I realize that these are, for the most part, small businesspeople just trying to make a living. But there are brides you can mess with, and brides you can’t mess with. Posy Floral Design’s problem seems to be their inability to distinguish between the two.
(1) In all fairness, I must report that I did eventually divorce this guy.
Was Roy Pearson at her wedding and did he give her this idea?
Well, the florist may have seriously screwed up but $400,000 isn’t going fix what’s done and the florist probably doesn’t have it anyway.
@DESCEND:
“I really don’t want the law rewarding people for being hysterical about their wedding.”
Do you instead want the law rewarding people for not following through with their signed contracts?
I think it’s interesting that so many people can’t see past HOW the money was spent. Should it matter? If you pay a for premium for something, aren’t you within your rights to get what you paid for?
I hope this guy doesn’t ever need Viagra, I can already see that lawsuit from Bridezilla there.
@Jaysyn: OK. You’re an ass.
@Geekybiker: Merchants are not required to take credit cards per any agreement with banks. You’re not allowed to charge extra, you’re not allowed to ask for ss# or, in some states, to see a driver’s licence, but you don’t have to take the card if you don’t want to.
To those that doubt the ability of the florist to cough up the dough – do you honestly think that a florist that charges $30,000 per event won’t have an umbrella insurance policy for at least $500,000? My dad has a one-man lawn mowing service and even he has a $1 million policy.
Paying $30,000 for wedding flowers is absurd to begin with. Suing for almost half a million in compensation is just plain excessive and irresponsible.
Another morally flexible attorney enters the workforce…
I’m sorry, those attacking her are completely wrong.
Here is an imperfect analogy: You order a car from the factor (say a mini cooper S), you pick out exactly what you want. 8 weeks later the car shows up, but instead of a blue cooper S, it is a black cooper non-S. A lesser car, not what you wanted. However, the dealer will not issue a refund and you are stuck with it. This is a situation that everyone on this blog would agree is completely bogus, but what happened to this lady was WORSE (and even more $, since coopers are less than 30k).
Wedding companies are an extreme racket. The day before my wedding, I almost got arrested for going APE shit on the tuxedo place when they accused my groomsmen of not showing up for there tuxedo fitting. Even though I DROVE THEM THERE.
These wedding companies promise you everything, but they know they don’t have to fully deliver. Because after all, if the screw up won’t be noticed until wedding day, chances are after the “happiest day of your life” and your honeymoon, you won’t be in the mood to come back, higher a lawyer (if you spent enough to make it worth it), and seek restitution. I applaud this lady and hope she sues this unscrupulous company out of existence.
@CCS:
My post doesn’t rely on disapproval over how much she spent. I don’t care if she spent $300 or $300k on flowers. I do care about whether the law should reward her for feeling that the flowers being a different shade of pink than she wanted ruined her wedding and entitles her to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
where are the pics??!
@ArtDonovansLoveChild.: Court fees. She’s asking for the money that compensates her time to defend this case.
I think the girl has a good chance of being awarded some of her money back: I don’t agree with the amount she’s sueing for but, she has the right to sue for however much she wants. It is up to the judge/jury to decide if she deserves that amount.
I am a wedding planner, and I own a wedding rental store, so I can relate to things going wrong; there are very few weddings that go off without a issue here or there. I had chocolate fountain quit after it was running 10 minutes. I was upset about it, I refunded the full amount, and made a heartfull apology. That’s fair!! The florists that charge $30K for flowers should be able to back up her product with fresh beautiful flowers (there is dye that she could have dipped the flowers in to get closer to the color), and not put empty dirty vases on any of the tables. This is a unacceptable act on her part. My only advice for people who are planning a wedding is to ask for refernces, check the refernces, and ask to see photos of the weddings or flowers of previous weddings they have done. If they can’t provide this; go somewhere else Good luck to the girl; I hope she wins most of her money back!
One last thing: Vendors as myself, do require the client to be paid in full 1 week prior to the wedding date. There are a lot of people that won’t pay after the occasion is over. And, you won’t believe the people who write checks knowing they don’t have the money. The 1 week gives us the chance to make sure the check clears. It’s just good business.
I’m a little late to the party but I wanted to throw in my 2 cents.
First of all, it doesn’t matter which party we agree with individually or who we think is right or wrong in the story. It doesn’t matter if we personally think the amount is too high, too low, or just right. This will come down to what her contract stated or if she didn’t have a contract, what her implied rights are in that state as a consumer. The florist can negate some liability through disclaimer cannot absolve themselves of fraud or negligence, which is where this case seems to be heading. I have no idea what the burden of proof is in New York for fraud but it most likely won’t matter since this case will never see the inside of a courtroom. If she is a determined litigant then the florist’s insurance company will settle with her.
Please don’t compare a non-durable good, like flowers, with a durable good, like an automobile. The analogy is silly. A better analogy is that you are measured for a suit (a non-durable consumer good) that you plan to wear to an interview and then pick it up on the day of your interview and find the fabric is a different color and the alterations have caused it to fit poorly. Was fraud committed? Did the suit cause you to lose on potential future earnings? Did you receive goods inferior to what was purchased?