A Brazilian judge has awarded $2600 in damages to a man who sued a store for not replacing his faulty television set, ruling that it was an “essential” device needed to watch soccer and a popular reality TV show.
The customer took Casas Bahia, Brazil’s largest furniture and home appliances retail chain, to court for “moral damages” inflicted by not being able to watch television.
“In modern life, you cannot deny that a television set, present in almost all homes, is considered an essential good,” ruled the judge from Campos, a town north of Rio de Janeiro. “Without it, how can the owner watch the beautiful women on ‘Big Brother,’ the national news broadcast or a football game.”
