how much money

[acebomber4321]

What is the name of your state? Minnesota

I was at my friends school last week and some buddies of mine decided to break some of the lights in the apartment hallways and now the landlord is trying to charge them $1200 for 6 lights. I know they should not have done this but the lights are worth at most $20 dollars a piece as they were very cheap plastic ones. What we are trying to figure out is if just because he is not calling the police on the matter he can charge what he wants. Or if they just have to pay what the light was worth in the first place.

 

[JustAPal00]

They would have to pay what an electrician would charge for the lights with installation, not what you can buy them for at Lowes! They should pay the bill before he calls the police. If the LL has to sue them for damages, I doubt the judge will have sympathy on a bunch of vandals!

 

[fairisfair]

They also should not pay the landlord an exorbitant fee for the lights. There is no guarantee that he would not still call the police. and besides, that smacks of extortion.

 

[dcatz]

Agreed, but we don’t know these weren’t custom fixtures. $200/light wouldn’t be excessive, if they were.

Both responses are valid, in my opinion. A question is, if the LL gets blown off and not only files a civil complaint for damages but also a criminal complaint for vandalism, do they get charged? If they get charged, do they get the option to make restitution to have the case dropped, or is that the penalty for conviction.

Small matter but, for those under the age of 18, what is the additional cost to get a record sealed and, for those over 18, to try to get it expunged? Because who wants to wrestle with how to answer the question “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?” on every subsequent job application?

We don’t know the basis for the $1,200 figure but, if I’m a parent, I ask to see, I figure out if it can be done less expensively and still to the LL’s satisfaction, I see to it that the kids make a sincere apology, I get a legal Release for getting the work done at whatever the cost ends up being and it’s divided among the kids.

I keep it out of court.