Midget Darts Gone Wrong

Dear Vudes and Tus,

So me and the guys were just playing some midget darts in the office the other day, like we do every Friday. Keep in mind our office is on the 73rd floor. So it was my turn and I launched the little guy towards the target, sadly he went nowhere near it. My boy Billy had left his window open and my arrow, the lovely midget himself, went soaring through the sky graciously. The elephants we had ordered were on their way out and he landed right on one of the elephants TUSks hahaha you see what I did there ;), but seriously the little dude is dead. Am I obligated to pay for my elephants murder?

Sincerely,

Wall Street Cocaine Addict

Hey there Sir Wall Street Cocaine Addict,

Well our sages went over a very similar case years ago. Since we are dealing with a Kofer payment (paying for the murder your animal committed we have to look into the machloket as to whether the Kofer payment this was Dimay Nizak (the value of the person damaged) or Dimay Mazik (the value of the damager). According to Rashi if you go by value of owner, he is of course worth money (obligated), but if u go by value of person damaged, he is about to die and doesn't have worth (patter).According to Rabeinu Chananel- if you go by value of owner, you are saying that u get punished for what your animal did. we learned before that if a guy killed a falling baby w a sword, you didn't do full damage so aren't obligated, so how can u be obligated for your animals damage (patur). If you go by value of person damaged, you are paying for the fact that the guy's dead (obligated). Chananel doesn't think that the guy has no worth when he's about to die. So basically there is no definitive answer, but these are the two possible ones.

Always at your service,

Vudes and Tus