My daughter is in high school autotech class. A month or so ago, she had her truck in one of the SINGLE car bays working on it. Another student pulled his MG in behind her and said he was going to work on it. Morgan asked him not to block the bay, since she was already there. He found out she was right, he couldn’t work on it, but left the car there unattended anyway. End of the period, (last of the day) and the kid still hadn’t returned. Morgan put the car in neutral and pushed it back, forgetting to close the drivers door. Yup, dinged it on the wall on the way out. Slightly mis-aligned and a dent on the end of it.
The father calls me and asked me what I was going to do about it since the school wasn’t going to do anything. I offered to fix it myself, telling him that I have rebuilt 2 MGs, 2 VWs, and a number of motorcycles(one award winning). This wasn’t good enough fo him, and he sends me a bill for $400.00.
Now it’s off to small claims hearing. My position is that it was an accident which happened on school property, during class, with a vehicle left un-attended, forwarned not to leave said vehicle, and done without malicious intent.
Questions? Comments? Free legal advise?
Contact your insurance company. If the car owner wasn’t insured, your insurance should take care of it. I’d bet you can’t take someone to small claims for the insurance deductible, or for uninsured damage to a car, because insurance is mandatory. The owner should have handled this as a (comprehensive) insurance claim, rather than a small claims matter.
Pointing that out at the small claims hearing should probably end the suit. However, small claims can be weird. It all depends upon the judge. If you can, find out who your judge will be, then visit his small claims court to see how he operates. Some like people who act professional and lawerly, others like rubes.
In any case, documentation always rules. I’ve been to small claims twice – once I got a free car (long story), once I lost a deposit on a rental. Better documentation won both cases. Take as much documentation as possible, including witnesses to any activity involved. I’m serious, take insurance papers, report cards, car registrations, photos of the wall, anything you can think of. “Yes, your honor. The vehicle’s door brushed the wall. Here’s a photo of the wall showing a minor paint scrape.” “Your honor, I’m fully insured for any damage – if Mr. Asshole would have provided his insurance information, this would have all been taken care of.”
Don’t be afraid to lie when necessary – your opponent surely will. That phone call will be re-itterated with you in the least favorable light possible.
Good luck, and remember:
As much as our justice system sucks ass, it’s the best in the world. Scary, but true.
Ever watch those court shows on TV? Throw all that crap out of your head and you’ll have a good start. It’s small claims court, so you don’t need a suit or anything, but dress nice. Dockers and a Polo would be good. If you have any physical evidence you wish to provide(unlikely), make sure it’s organized. Along those same lines, make your case quick and to the point. The judge deals with these things all day and if he feals his time is being wasted, that will work against you. Don’t take quick to mean unthorough(sp?) though. Don’t leave anything out. Don’t interrupt the judge or your ‘opponent’. Be as respectful as possible and answer the judges questions as curteously as possible. Some of his questions may come across as attacks, but don’t ever get defensive. He’s just trying to do everything he can to get the whole story from both sides.
Spoke to soon. I didn’t think about insurance. Although I wouldn’t condone lying, the insurance would definitely be something good to bring up. One last thing I forgot to mention. I’ve never done the small claims thing myself, I’ve just helped a few friends get organized. So, I’ve witnessed quite a few cases and noticed that some judges don’t like other witnesses. Not sure why.
All prior advice is excellent. Especially about documentation. Courts love evidence.
First, congratulations on your daughter taking auto shop. She will be the darling of many boys her age when they discover that she knows the difference between a piston and a differential.
Very important, did your daughter have a witness to the fact that she admonished the other student to not leave his car there? Was there another witness to the fact that the car remained unattended for long enough to the point where it posed an obstruction to her departure? Did anyone witness the removal of the MG who can testify to the fact that your daughter was forced to remove the car physically due to the other driver’s negligence?
All of these will provide extenuating circumstances for you to claim mutual responsibility. This should allow the judge to distribute the liability between both parties. You should have to pay only $200 of the $400 you are being billed for. Personally, if you were able to provide witnesses to all three facts stated above, if I were the judge, I might find you were even less than 50% liable.
Sadly, using 20/20 hindsight, the thing your daughter should have done and should do in the future is to call a tow truck. So much for trying to be nice. Also, you may want to subpoena the owner of the MG (the other student) in order to have him present. The referee will take a dim view of his inconsideration. Plus, he may end up being a witness on your daughter’s behalf if no others are available.
Finally, although there may not be precedent for it, send the plaintiff a registered letter requesting that they provide three competitive bids. Try to ascertain if they have gone to the most exspensive body shops in town to get them and, if possible, get photos of the damage or have an expert that you know and trust go out and look at the car to provide an impartial estimate of the repair. You may wish to have the plaintiff produce records to prove that there was no pre-existing damage to the vehicle in that location prior to the event.
The more hoops that you force your opponent to jump through the more formidable you will seem as an adversary. Your opponent will be a lot less likely to try any hijinks with you if you have made this clear. All of these efforts may sharply reduce the amount of monetary judgement against your daughter.
I spent 9 years doing small claims collections cases! I wish you’d have started this earlier - there’s some good advice above (except for the lying part) if you’ve got time to pursue it before your hearing.
A few thoughts: if you think your insurance will cover this, and you want to pursue it, ask for a continuance. In my experience judges hate it when I party arbitrarily decides what another party owes, without any communication or attempt at compromise. Be sure to ask for his documentation on that $400 figure, and ask for time to get your own bids. If this goes to trial, emphasize your experience doing body work on this type of car, and your offer to put the property back into good condition. If the guy would let his kid work on the car in a class, he should have let you do any minor body work. Repeat the offer - as in “I’m still willing to do the work” (assuming the work hasn’t been done yet). Then sum up by requesting a dismissal.
If you take any documentation, be aware that you have to show it to the other party before it can be given to the judge. I prefer making a copy for the other party, a copy for myself and giving the originals to the judge.
Just some observations on my part, and I can’t speak on anything that’s been mentioned.
You said you’d rebuilt 2 MGs, so that means you probably have before/after pics of your cars, correct? Just a thought, but what if you can bring those to show that you can do great work on your own, for far cheaper.
A few years ago, I broke a guy’s front windshield with a beer bottle. Accidentally, because we were at a party and a bit tipsy on the second floor. It was an old junker, so it wasn’t someone’s pride and joy. The guy whose place we were partying and I had a windshield ordered and was about 10 mins from putting it in for him, costing me $175. No biggie, right? He wanted some bullet proof stuff that was $600 or $700. When I found that out, I contacted the window place to get info on windows. Come to find out, the stuff we were putting in was better than what he had in his. Something for nothing. He pressed charges, and I got dismissed because there was no criminal intent. He never took me to civil court, which I know why, because he’d not got his priceless window.
Don’t let this guy get over on you, make every effort to correct the problem, and if he doesn’t meet you at some point, then he’ll look like a fool and you might even get off scott free. Do some research, I’d say.
We went to mediation, and since the prospect of burning up another vacation day for this BS was not what I wanted to spend it on, I offered $200, and it was accepted. The mediator, although not able to give any legal advise, seemed to agree with me, that he should have accepted my original offer to do the repairs. So he basically realized $100 towards the repair after spending about $100 in fees to take me to court. That made me feel better.
Thanks again.
Now it’s of to juvenile court at the end of the month for my 13 yr old. Busted on video for tag switching at a department store! Man, with over $100 in his pocket, he sure displayed lack of judgement to save $10!
Glad to see that you got out with the exact level of loss that I predicted! There were far too many mitigating factors in this situation for you to shoulder the entire burden.
[/self congratulatory mode]
PS: How nice that your kids are so conscientious about ensuring that all your idle hours are occupied.