Q: Hi, I would like to know with whom does liability lie when one minor accidentally damages another minors cell phone.
My child's phone was on her desk at school another child put their book or folder on top of my child's phone,picked up folder/book causing I phone to fall and damages the phone. She admitted to other students that she caused the damage also.
A: This sort of oops I'm sorry I broke your thingamajig case probably has no liability whatsoever in a legal sense. A negligence claim requires certain elements. One of those elements is a duty of care. In general, people are expected to take reasonable care not to damage other people or their property. Some people, like parents, have an elevated duty of care with regard to certain others (i.e., their children). In this instance, the duty of care this child owed was just be reasonably careful. Phones are small and easily missed, and they don't often fall simply because someone moves an object on top of them. It is common for kids to put their stuff on the desks in the classroom including other kids desks. I would argue she didn't actually do anything that careless. It was just an unfortunate circumstance.
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