| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/2/2008 8:50:36 PM | This situation came up in my life over the weekend, but got me thinking.....
I was driving my son and his friend to an activity that we do every week. We park and the friend flings the car door open and *narrowly* misses the vintage corvette parked next to us - but did hit my knee that I used to block between the door and the Vet! I scolded him for not watching what he was doing, and he responded with "well, it's not like it got dented!"
Who should pay for the damages to the other car if it had actually been damaged?
I left the ages of the kids out of this story because I think that would have an effect on the answer. What are your thoughts, and why??
And no... I wouldn't have just taken off... don't want to teach the kids that that is OK... as much as an expensive paint bill for someone else's car would truly suck.
OE: What I mean by who is responsible is "Should I have to pay for damages because I'm in charge of him for that time?" or "Should his parents pay for the damages because he's old enough to know better?" | |
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| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/2/2008 8:56:21 PM | the causer of the damages or the "adult in charge"
Imagine it was more than a paint dent, lets say the door knocked someone down or off a cliff... who would be responsable?... You!
As the adult in charge you should have warned the children of the dangers of thier actions.. to dent, injure or kill
Big AL | |
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| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/2/2008 9:02:52 PM | If my child did damage, regardless of who they were with, I would feel responsible for taking care of it.
From what I have seen on the tv court shows, the parents of the one causing damage are usually the ones paying up.
As the adult in charge you should have warned the children of the dangers of thier actions.. to dent, injure or kill
Ha Ha...sounds good in theory!!! | |
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| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/2/2008 9:11:18 PM | Big Al, some kids are aware of their surroundings when they are in public because their parents have taught them appropriate parameters of behavior and others are like bulls in a China shop because their parents tend to ignore them and let them run wild. If a non-parent is supervising, covering all of the things a child could do would be virtually impossible. Accidents do happen but they are more likely with children reared a certain way. The supervising person is responsible to a significant extent but in this case, it is definitely the parent that should have responsibility.
Unless the situation is caused by the negligence of the non-parent that is supervising, the parent of the child should be held responsible because it is their job to teach the child how to behave when out in public. Children forget these things. Mine know better and they have still had some narrow misses, but if my child did this while out with friends, I would be responsible for restitution. I have taught my children accountability and I am not worth much if I don't practice what I preach similarly to the OP not wanting to flee the scene should damage actually have occurred.
Our children learn the most from our examples. You can talk yourself blue in the face but if you walk the walk, they get it, even if they act like they don't. Every once in a while I will catch every one of my kids spouting nearly verbatim something I have told them a million times that I thought they had ignored. My daughter told me a while back, however, some things about me that she wanted to tell someone else that really made me proud because she has watched and evidently agrees with what I see as the right way to do things for others, not for praise but just because it is the right thing to do.
If the parent tried to pawn responsibility off on the vehicle operator, that would be wrong because that person would wind up potentially with an insurance claim and likely higher insurance premiums or a bill they could ill afford because we didn't teach our children the lesson of respecting others' property. | |
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| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/2/2008 9:56:26 PM |
As the adult in charge you should have warned the children of the dangers of thier actions.. to dent, injure or kill
I absolutely agree, in theory.
But this is where ages come into play.... With a 2 year old, I would make sure that we all hold hands, over-gesticulate the look-both-ways-before-crossing-the-street motion and point out all dangers.... With a 16 year old, I would assume that he knows all that. It would be horribly condescending to go through the same "warnings" with both age groups.
I haven't had to remind my son for YEARS about opening car doors.... so it really threw me when his friend didn't pay attention at all to his actions. They are the same age, same grade, and have known each other for years.... I'm just glad that I happen to get out of the car faster than him! | |
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| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/3/2008 1:52:49 AM | | I would think , it would be the responsibility of the driver, has the children while in your care are your responsibility not the parents. | |
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| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/3/2008 2:42:00 AM | | Ideally the parent of the child should be responsible. Sadly though I doubt a child that acts like that has a parent who's any more responsible than they are. I'd just make sure the property owner was told and be the responsible party and pay the damages. I would also never invite that child to be my responsibility again. | |
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| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/3/2008 3:17:34 AM | Agree with yum.
The other thing I will add is this....I don't have other children in my car for reasons just like that. What if I caused an accident and the child were injured? Naturally, I'm the one that is going to wind up getting sued even though the parents gave the child permission to go with me.
The only people in my car? Me and my family.
~Welder's Girl~ | |
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| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/3/2008 4:37:52 AM | That sucks!
Obviously the adult in charge is responsible BUT at 16yrs a child whether
yours or a friends must also learn to be responsible for their actions. This is how
we teach them "reponsibility". Sure he can't pay for the damage of the car but
if you do have to pay for anything he's old enough to "earn" it through odd jobs,
things like grass cutting, car washing, etc etc. I wouldn't let it slide, there's a great
lesson to be learned here.
GPH | |
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| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/3/2008 6:10:44 AM | The reason (if it had actually hit the other car) matters not, the wind could have blown your door into the other car, and you would be responsible for any damage caused by your car door impacting another vehicle.
Now in this case had it happened, you could have gone to the parents of the child and asked them to reimburse you, but as someone else already mentioned, they probably aren’t much better.
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| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/3/2008 7:07:37 AM | One day in the parking lot at work, the wind caught my door and threw it into the car next to me (on the driver's side). There was a small smudge of red from my car on his car. I was going to leave a note, but it was raining. I came out at lunchtime with a note and $10 for a car wash. Guess what? The guy was sitting in his car reading a book! I told him what happened and handed him the envelope. He was STUNNED. He said, "You know, most people wouldn't do this." I told him I'm not most people. He looked at the smudge and said, "That's no problem. I can buff that out." (He kept the $10 - . )
Not long after that, I was in a co-worker's car. The wind caught my door AGAIN and threw it into the car next to us. The car had dealer stickers on it, so I'm pretty sure someone was test driving it. Anyway, it left a big dent and white paint from my co-worker's car (on the passenger side). This time I did not leave a note. I did not carelessly throw the door open, I had my hand on the handle but the wind just grabbed it. Same thing happened to the driver, too, but there was no car on her side. This time I figured the dealership would fix it if the person decided to buy the car -- they could claim they hadn't noticed it before....... 
That being said, OP, if the car door HAD hit the Corvette, the right thing to do would have been to leave a note (if it's an older kid, the kid could accept responsibility, but you would be responsible for a younger kid). My guess is that if a kid accepted responsibility, the driver would be so impressed he wouldn't ask for damages. | |
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| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/3/2008 9:02:34 PM | Slightly off subject but I regularly drive a little boy about my son's age who seldom pays attention so whenever I park, I always pick an end spot where the door opens to a median. This way he can't hurt someone else's car or more important, if it was an open space, he can't step out of the car while another car is pulling in and get hit. If anything, my son has picked up on the lesson to take some responsibility if you are involved and could do better next time.
To answer the question, I take responsibility for any child left under my care.
I also take responsibility for my son's actions wherever he is all the time.
In both cases, I am fairly particular who I take care of and who I leave in charge of my child. In this case, I am confident I would be splitting the charges. It wouldn't matter if it was my kid in their care or their kid in my care. | |
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| who is responsible?
Posted: 6/3/2008 9:14:23 PM | | Since the child isn't an adult, it's the adult's responsibility to make sure all is well. If your friend's son has that type of attitude often, then I'd let him know that you won't take them to places since you dont' want to be liable for his actions since you are responsible for him. | |
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