College Dorm Mishap

[nelsonwilbury]

I have a son in college and he was in a friends dorm playing video games. The friends roommate comes in and puts an open bottle of water on his desk, nest to his laptop. My son was sitting on the kids bed (which is right next to the desk). My son gets up and the pillow he was leaning on shifted and knocked the water bottle over and it fries the laptop. Nothing is said by the kid other than his parent are going to kill him. A couple of weeks go by and the kid says to my son" my parents want to know how are you going to handle this". My son tells me the story and I tell him, if it happened to you, I would hold you responsible for leaving an open bottle next to the computer (I have always been on my kids about doing that when they are at the desktop PC at home). I asked my son what did he think was fair. He said that being as it was both their fault, the repair cost should be split. I was glad he said that because it showed character. I said he was being generous and I told him I was proud. He told the kid and the kid said "I'll tell my parents". Tonight my son calls home and says that the kid's dad wants to talk to me. Initially I told my son that it is between him and the kid (they are both over 18) but then I said to have the dad call me if he wants. I went on to say that if the guy gets loud with me, I'll take the 50% offer off the table

What do you think a fair solution is?

Thanks

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I personally think your offer is more than fair. If they don't accept then you can tell take the offer off the table and go to court. I'd be surprised if small claims awarded more than 50% as you are correct, the other kid was probably "contributorily negligent" in leaving an open bottle of water next to the laptop computer. Note that in many courts and jurisdictions your settlement offer cannot be used in court as a proof of your liability. This is done so that people should feel free to settle matters amongst themselves and without involving the courts without penalty.