Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Illinois

What can I do if a parent will not take responsibility and pay for my son's glasses, which her son broke. My son's glasses fell out of his front pocket and did not notice it right away. It was picked up and passed around to a few students. More than one student witnessed one kid throwing the glasses on the floor and breaking them. In my son's incident report, he mentioned a student saw this same kid throwing the glasses on the wall and the floor. The Dean even to me the student admitted to throwing the glasses on the floor and did not mention any other person's name when questioned. His mother was cooperative in the beginning, asking of an estimate for the glasses, but now she do not think her son is responsible. I have an incident report, the Dean's statement/letter, and statements from students mentioning this kid's name breaking the glasses. How can I go about going further with this without having to get a lawyer or do I need one?


Asked on 1/15/13, 4:32 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Betty Tsamis Tsamis Law Firm PC

I think your first point of concern should be with your son who lost his glasses. Maybe lesson should be for your son to find a better way to store and protect his property in the future. Looking for someone to blame now will not help with this very important life lesson. Unless you can show that the other kids knew the glasses were your son's glasses and prove that the kids intended to damage the glasses, you're out of luck. I do think the other children need a lesson in respecting their surroundings but as parents we can only be responsible for passing on such lessons to our own children. I do not think the mother is responsible for paying for your son's glasses.

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Answered on 1/17/13, 12:40 pm


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