Parents liable for damages caused by children?

[dkline0654]

My son let a girl drive his car around the block (she turned out to be 14 and unlicensed). She hit someone and caused $1000 damage to my son's car. Her mother is now stating that she is not liable for her daughter's damages because she did not give her permission to drive the vehicle and her attorney said she does not have to pay for it. They had, up until now, been promising to pay for it. Do we have any recourse against mother? 14 year old?

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, Verdana">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dkline0654:
My son let a girl drive his car around the block (she turned out to be 14 and unlicensed). She hit someone and caused $1000 damage to my son's car. Her mother is now stating that she is not liable for her daughter's damages because she did not give her permission to drive the vehicle and her attorney said she does not have to pay for it. They had, up until now, been promising to pay for it. Do we have any recourse against mother? 14 year old?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


My response:

They are both liable, equally. She had a duty to inform that she was unlicensed, and he had a duty to ask. A judge would split the baby. Take it to Small Claims court. It doesn't matter that her mother didn't give the daughter permission. If she's old enough to take on an "adult" task, such as driving, then it will be under that guideline that a judge will impute adult standards to her and that she knew that what she was doing was wrong, and find her 50% negligent. Your son should have known better, and to have asked her first. He'll get hit with 50% also.

IAAL


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[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, Verdana">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dkline0654:
My son let a girl drive his car around the block (she turned out to be 14 and unlicensed). She hit someone and caused $1000 damage to my son's car. Her mother is now stating that she is not liable for her daughter's damages because she did not give her permission to drive the vehicle and her attorney said she does not have to pay for it. They had, up until now, been promising to pay for it. Do we have any recourse against mother? 14 year old?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What a short but expensive joyride. The girls mother sounds just as irresponsible as her daughter. What a terrible example to teach our youth of today; to shirk responsibility for actions of ones' own child. Her attorney gets an A for creative reasoning of the law and an F in legal/moral character.