Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

My son 10 year old gave his $200 ipod touch to the 13 year old boy,neighbor to down load some free games.My son asked him if we were not home that night to put it in a small envelope and leave it in our plants in front of our door.The boy said he left there in a box in front of our door at 5.p.m(we were at home and he never rang the bell or knocked our door.At 5.45,we left the house and found an empty box in front the house.When we asked the boy,what has happened ,he said he does not know,and some body must have stolen it.

We got police involved and prior to that spoke with his mother to resolve it quietly,but she did not co=operate and said they are the family of lawyers and they do not have it.

Police interviewed them and told us ,they are lying about the whole thing,but there is no proof.

We gave them our serial number of ipod touch ,and when the police looked at the ipod touch the boy had in his pocket ,the serial number was scratched and only the last three numbers was still there.

What can we do?Can we take the boy to the small claims court?I want my son to see that justice is there and for the 13 year old boy and his mother to learn not to go to the path which ends in crime.

This is so important to us and i can not sleep at night.Thank you for your time and answer in advance.

A.L


Asked on 9/04/10, 9:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

Although I am always telling my Chinese born wife how much better the American legal system is then that of most of the world, you are much too optomistic. The other boy's mother is not going to change her attitude because you take her to small claims court and her son is not likely to change either. Any judge will have the problem that you will have no real evidence. Even if the last three serial numbers match that is weak evidence and not something you can testify to from your own knowledge but is hearsay in that the police officer told you what he remembers seeing [in SCC judges do let in reliable hearsay evidence]. The judge might also wonder if the games could be legally downloaded. They will not bring the ipod to court and the judge in SCC can only award money damages, the value of a used ipod. And if your son owns it and not you, he may have to be the plaintiff and not you and he may have to do all the talking in court.

It might be better to have both families get together in a civil fashion, voice their concerns, a if they have any proof of their buying an ipod, put up a reward flier [$10 or so] in the neigborhood so the kid can secretly return it or a friend of his can return it for him.

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Answered on 9/10/10, 6:09 pm


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