Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in New York

Re: Freedom from harassment (minor - pattern established)

Not sure if it's really "harassment," or something more like slander here. Harassment is generally unwanted contact . . .verbal or physical, directly between two people. "Spreading lies" sounds like you believe the neighbor's child is slandering you or your family. This would be the making of false statements of fact, with knowledge of their falsity, which causes damages.

Mere statements of opinion are generally not actionable.

Assuming the neighbor minor is slandering your family, there would normally be a one year statute of limitations. That means one year from the date of the utterance, to file a complaint in court.

If simple verbal requests to parents, or a "lawyer's letter" haven't worked, it may be time to turn up the heat.

Most parents don't realize they may be liable for up to $5,000 in damages for their children's wrongful conduct. There is a statute in NY (General Obligations Law?) which your atty can get, which so provides.

So armed, you would have the ability to take the matter to Small Claims court, which usually is an unpleasant enough experience to get the other person's attention that there is a real problem here.

But I have to wonder, how you prove a slander case where the person telling the lies is 14 years old. Most people wouldn't place too much stock in what a young child says, right?