What Can I Do When a Dry Cleaner Damages My Clothes?

What Can I Do When a Dry Cleaner Damages My Clothes?

Last updated: December 2004

The following question was submitted to John Roska, an attorney/writer whose weekly newspaper column, "Q&A: The Law," runs in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Illinois Edition) and the Champaign News Gazette.

Question

What can I do about a dry cleaner that damaged my dress? It came back with stains and the colors ran. They say it's the manufacturer's fault so they're not responsible. I just want somebody to reimburse me.

Answer

Manufacturing flaws often are to blame when damage occurs during cleaning. It's common, therefore, for dry cleaners to say it's not their fault if they followed the instructions on the clothing label and something bad happened.

Those care labels are required by the Federal Trade Commission on all clothes sold in the U.S. (Except, according to FTC regulations, leather and suede garments, hats and gloves, and reversible items without pockets). Although the regulations permit labels saying "cannot be successfully cleaned", the main purpose of labels is to provide cleaning instructions. Since 1997, those cleaning instructions can use symbols instead of words.

The FTC takes those care labels seriously, and goes after people whose labels aren't right. For example, Tommy Hilfiger got spanked with a $300,000 fine for using labels which, "when followed, resulted in dye bleeding from one portion of the garment into another".

In your case, try taking the dress back to the retailer where you bought it. If it won’t help, contact the manufacturer directly.

If you think the dry cleaner is to blame, ask to be reimbursed for your loss. Be prepared to ask for a specific dollar amount—a surprising number of people who want money are caught short when asked "how much"?

Disputes about what and who caused the damage can sometimes be resolved by having the cleaner send the item to the International Fabricare Institute's Garment Analysis Laboratory in Maryland. The IFI is supported by dry cleaners, but its written reports explaining what went wrong are considered authoritative.

If a dry cleaner accepts responsibility, the reimbursement will often be based on the IFI's "fair claims guide", which pro-rates an item's full replacement cost according to age and condition. The guide lists life expectancies for things that get dry cleaned, and a table to figure the pro-ration.

The IFI's life expectancies for different items tend to be short; for example, ties last 1 year; dress shirts last 2 years; "office" dresses last 3 years, and wool sport coats last 4 years. Items in average condition about mid-way through their life span are reimbursed at 40-60% of full replacement cost; items beyond their life expectancies get 10-20%.

If you don't like what the dry cleaner offers, your last resort is small claims court. You'd have to prove that the dry cleaner was negligent, and the dollar amount of your loss.

Helpful Organizations
The following organizations may be able to help you with foreclosure

Organizations 1 of 8 |

1.

Prairie State Legal Services, Inc. - Kankakee Office
191 South Chicago Kankakee, IL 60901 | View map

Phone: 815-935-2750
TTY: 815-935-2764
Toll-free: 800-346-2864

Languages: English
View Website

Prairie State Legal Services, Inc. provides free legal services in civil legal matters for low-income persons who have incomes below 125% of the federal poverty guidelines and senior citizens age 60 and older regardless of income.

Eligibility

Whether you are eligible for help from Prairie State Legal Services depends on the following factors:

  • You meet our income and asset guidelines, or are age 60 or older.
  • We have no ethical conflict of interest regarding your legal issue.
  • You live within the service area of Prairie State, or have a civil legal problem in one of the counties in our service area.
  • You meet the citizenship or immigration requirements established by Congress. It should be noted that immigrants who are fleeing domestic violence or trafficking are eligible for legal help regardless of immigration status in matters to address the abuse.
  • Government regulations do not prohibit Prairie State Legal Services from handling your type of legal problem.
  • You have one or more legal problems that can be addressed by PSLS attorneys and that fall within our established priorities.

Types of Legal Help

Due to high demand for our services, our staff is able to provide representation in certain areas of civil law designated as a priority. The following kinds of problems are illustrative of the cases that we may be able to help with (not an exclusive list):

High Priority Cases

  • Family Law: Protection from abuse or exploitation of domestic violence victims, elderly, children and persons w/disabilities; divorce and related relief for domestic violence victims.
  • Housing Law: Evictions and lock-outs; foreclosure defense; loss or denial of subsidized housing benefits; loss or denial of essential public utilities; substandard housing conditions cases that cannot be addressed by other agencies.
  • Health Care: Loss or denial of medical or nursing home care; loss or denial of medical benefits (Medicaid, Medicare).
  • Needs-based government assistance: Loss or denial of SSI, GA, TANF, VA, food stamps.
  • Other income benefits where alternative representation is unavailable: Loss or denial of unemployment insurance, Social Security Title II benefits.

Other Cases We May Handle

  • Family Law: Child support, custody, guardianship, visitation, parental rights, divorces for non-domestic violence victims.
  • Housing: Rent issues; security deposits; unit size; discrimination.
  • Education: admission, expulsion, special education & related services.
  • Health care and people with disabilities: powers of attorney and other health care documents; discrimination and reasonable accommodations.
  • Income or benefits: overpayments of government assistance; health insurance matters; employment issues.
  • Consumer Law: Bankruptcy or other debt relief; consumer fraud; protection of exempt income and assets; unfair debt collection practices; repossession; contract defenses.
     

View current federal poverty levels

Feedback

We welcome your comments and suggestions

User Survey - Please take a moment to fill out our User Survey to help us to provide better service.

Please do not email legal questions or information about your problem. We will not answer legal questions or provide legal assistance. You can find referrals to legal organizations that may be able to help you by clicking here.