Smashed $27,500 Bass Leads to Lawsuit

A double bass -- in a single piece

​When musician Dave Carroll's $3,500 guitar was broken on a United Airlines flight, he did what musicians can be expected to do: He wrote a song about it.

Kenneth Laxer has, to date, penned no ditties -- though he's lost a far more valuable instrument to the custodians of the friendly skies. Yesterday the Mill Valley man filed suit in San Francisco district court against a trio of freight agencies. His claim: They pulled a Pete Townsend on his $27,500 double bass.

Laxer's legal symphony contends that Worldwide Cargo Services, Forward Air, and Clock Freight International are to blame for the utter destruction of his century-old German instrument.

While he intended to ship the hulking bass from the Bay Area to Cincinnati to have it renovated, Laxer claims it was reduced to kindling by the time it arrived in The Queen City.

The three named companies transported the pricey bass and its $2,500 case between the west and midwest on its journey last year. Laxer is claiming they gave the double bass the old gorilla luggage treatment.



"At the time the Bass was delivered to Mill Valley on April 28, 2010, it was almost completely destroyed," reads the suit. "The fiberglass-reinforced-with-steel case in which the Bass was shipped was cracked, and the neck of the Bass completely broken off the body of the instrument. Furthermore, the bridge of the Bass was severely fractured, and the front was split in half. As a result of these damages, the Bass and its carrying case were rendered completely worthless."

Laxer is looking for $31,272 in damages and transportation costs -- plus whatever else the judge sees fit to grant.

It's time to face the music.

H/T   |   Courthouse News