Son broke classmates glasses - where do they stand legally?

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Question

Country: United States of America
State: Colorado

My son is 15 and was watching a boy sitting next to him in class, twist his "flexible" glasses. My son asked the boy if "he could try". the boy with the glasses hands my son his glasses so he could give them a twist. and of course the "flexible" frame broke, not the lenses. The boys filled out an occurrence report at the school. I spoke with the boys mother once, and she said the frames were one year old, and cost 100 dollars at Wal-Mart. My husband and I are making our son send 10 dollars a month to this family, until he reaches 50 dollars. We feel that our son is responsible for the frame only, and not the lenses, since they did not break, and felt 50 dollars would be adequate since the frames are one year old. The parents are requesting us to make full payment, on lenses and frames. They also don't like the 10 dollars per month, and they have currently received 20 dollars. Where do you think we stand legally on this issue, because we feel they are the type to t ace us to small claims court.

Answer

If they go to small claims they will not get much more than you are offering; you are responsible to make the glasses correct again if indeed your son was at fault--and if 50 dollars can do that, then that is all you owe.