Responsibility

I'm in wa. state. My son was riding his new bike he is 10 and a neighbor's 7 yr old ran into his bike wheel and damaged it. I spoke with the parent and he said since it was a accident he/they have no responsibility to fix it.Is this correct? If not could you give me a link to where I can print p the law area about it .Thank You

My response:

A 7 year old cannot appreciate his actions, or actions that are negligent. In fact, a court would never find that a 7 year old is negligent. For purposes of negligence liability, minors are not held to the same standard of conduct as adults. Rather, they are required to exercise only that degree of care ordinarily exercised by minors of like maturity, intelligence and capacity under similar circumstances.

Except in special circumstances, of which yours is not one, parents are not responsible for the negligent acts of their minor children. Parents are only responsible for the malicious acts of their children and, under the law, a 7 year old is incapable of forming malicious intent.

Fix the wheel.

IAAL