If Someone Pays to Fly in a Singer for His Simcha, Does Someone Else Who Hires That Singer While He’s in town Have to Split the Cost of the Ticket?

Rav Yosef Greenwald

Question: Reuven pays a lot of money to fly in a famous singer to perform at his simcha. Shimon hears that this singer is coming to town and hires him to sing at his simcha as well. Reuven says that Shimon should pay for half of the plane ticket and related expenses because he is benefiting from having the singer in town. Is he correct? 

Answer: The Poskim discuss a case where Reuven invests money in a property that he believes to be his. Later, he discovers that he made a mistake and the property actually belongs to Shimon.

The Nesivos Hamishpat says that Reuven cannot charge Shimon for his work because he did it for himself, not for Shimon. The Ketzos Hachoshen argues and says that since, at the end of the day, he improved Shimon’s property, he can demand payment for his work.

It would seem that our case is similar, as Reuven paid for the ticket for himself and Shimon derived benefit from that. It could thus be argued that the halacha would hinge on the machlokes between the Ketozs and Nesivos.

However, I believe that in this case, everyone would agree that Shimon does not have to pay for any of the traveling expenses. In the Poskim’s case, Reuven did work on Shimon’s property and upgraded the property. In our case, Reuven didn’t do any work “on Shimon’s property.” He only did work for himself and Shimon happened to benefit from that. I believe that even the Ketzos would agree that Shimon does not have to pay for the travel expenses in this case.