A professional who caused damage: is he liable for compensation, and may the rented item be withheld until he pays

Shalom.

A professional camera was rented for an event, and it did not work well and the renters suffered a loss. May they claim compensation for the damages? And may they also hold on to the camera until they receive the rental fee back?

Shalom u’vracha.

In Halacha there is no claim for “compensation” (in the modern legal sense), and they may hold on to the item until they clarify the liability with a rabbi.

In siman 333, se’if 6 it is explained that regarding a worker who did not come to work as agreed and thereby caused the employer losses, the Shulchan Aruch and the Rema disagree whether the worker must pay for the damages. The Rema, who obligates payment, holds that this applies only to monetary loss, but for non-monetary harm (for example, a maid who did not come, the tasks were not done, but no direct monetary loss was caused), one cannot obligate payment. Concerning the very basis of this obligation, the Ketzot HaChoshen and the Netivot HaMishpat (there, sk. 2) ask why he is liable, since someone who merely prevents another from gaining profit is exempt. The Ketzot concludes that the basis of the liability is a rabbinic enactment: it applies to a worker, whereas in all other cases one who merely prevents another’s profit is exempt. The Netivot explains that a worker who undertook to work, and an employer who undertook to employ the worker, have the status of guarantors, since they took on an obligation and the other party relied on them. From all of this a clear halachic principle emerges: there is no concept in Halacha of “compensation for emotional distress” (there are indeed liabilities for embarrassment and pain when a person intentionally harms another person, but even these are not collected nowadays, as explained in siman 1), and monetary compensation for loss of potential profit is almost never applicable, except under certain specific conditions.