Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Washington
Question on Liability
I am preparing to file a small claims suit and want information. I have a 16yo daughter & 9yo son. My son has a new 30GB Zune. Current price $199.99, my daughter took it to take to spend the night at a friends house. This friend has a brother my son's age. The next day my son went to play there while my daughter was there. There were 3 boys. One of them took the Zune from my daughter I believe it was my son but then it disappeared. The boy who lives there has a ps2 in his room they had pop in the room my son says it was allowed, the mom says it was not. My son forgot and left his pop in the room and went home. The boy who lives there then spilled it on his own ps2 destroying it. Back to the Zune, I was not told that it was missing until my daughter told me this family had it and picked it up yesterday. My son went to use it today and someone had taken a sharp object to the bottons,screen, and plug making it completely inoperable. The boy who lives there admitted to the damage saying it was retaliation because he blames my son for leaving the pop, which he himself spilled on his ps2. The mom will only agree to pay half for the Zune. 1st can my son be liable for the ps2, 2nd the zune was new is it right to make her pay full price?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Question on Liability
Your questions are really excellent, and take me back to my law school days. As you indicate, this is a small claims matter, but it still comes down to the same basic rules of tort law. Let me also say that there is nowhere enough room to answer this question completely, so this abbreviated discussion will have to do.
Regarding the PS2, the mom may claim that your son was told not to bring pop in the room and your son will say the opposite. It will come down to an issue of credibility, such as if the other mom has witnesses who attest that no one ever took pop in that room. If a judge believes this, then the judge will ask if your son had a duty to obey this rule? If the answer is no, then that ends the inquiry right there, and your son is not liable for the PS2's damage.
If the answer is yes, then the court asks whether your son breached the duty by bringing in the pop, and whether that caused the damage to the friend's PS2. Another issue is whether his friend had a duty to act with care when handling his PS2, and thus, did his clumsiness contribute to the damages?
If he is at least partially responsible, such as say 50% responsible and your son also 50% responsible, then each pays his proportionate share of the damage.
Regarding the Zune, if you convince a judge that the other boy admitted that he damaged it on purpose as revenge, then the short answer is, that boy is 100% responsible for the replacement. There's a lot more explaining on each of these, but this gives you an idea of what you are looking at.
By the way, if the judge finds that the other boy did not act maliciously, then he will ask the same questions as were asked of your son. Did the other boy have a duty to take care of the Zune while it was in his possession? Did he violate this duty? Did that violation cause the damage? Did your son do anything to contribute to the damage? Etc.
Good luck!
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
