Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Michigan

My friends are in a dispute about a broken window. Three of the friends live together in an apartment on campus. Another friend (not under the lease) was over and while they were all fooling around, shooting at each other with a BB-gun, ended up shooting and cracking a window. After receiving a bill for the window from the landlord, the tenants want the friend to pay for the full amount but he hasn't responded to their emails/calls.

Who is legally responsible for paying for the broken window? There isn't really any way to prove the fourth friend shot the window and he's not on the lease, but he is the one who actually did it. How could the three tenents prove this in small-claims?

Thanks.


Asked on 9/17/10, 12:00 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Shelly Schellenberg MI & FL private practice

Your friends can all tell the judge in small claims court their story. The judge may or may not believe them. Considering that they are college students, who were "fooling around, and shooting at each other with a BB gun", if the window replacement was really expensive, the judge may decide that having them all pay for the window would be poetic justice, that hopefully will make all of your friends a little smarter. They should consider this a cheap lesson in what not to do.

Read more
Answered on 9/24/10, 9:49 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Landlord & Tenants questions and answers in Michigan