Any solicitors on here. Need a bit of advice....

Hi

I have a odd issue that has come up while on holiday.

Can anyone on here give me a bit of advice ?

 

Solicitors tend to specialise in certain areas so a clue as to what the 'odd issue' would help even if you don't want to be specific on the forum?

 

while on holiday my 7 year old son was accused by someone of throwing a stone and hitting her car. i checked it and it was about 4mm long and hadnt broken the paint. i asked my lad and he strongly denied it. i asked him again later in the day and he denied it happening. i believe him. she started going on and i had to leave so i gave her my details. she comes back to me today demanding £300 + vat for the repair which i decline of course. now she has gone to her insurance and they told her to report it to the police who have issued a crime number. she is talking about legal action against me. just want to get an idea of what the possible outcome is of this... cant quite believe it has happened

 

I'm no Solicitor however I've had various dealings with them over the years and the over riding factor is Proof and Witness's.

If it's her word against your Lad's and no one saw anything and you've already denied it then she/her Insurance Co' can't prove anything.

It makes it easier as your Lad don't own a Car so they can't get your insurance company involved either.

Bottom line is it's £300!

No Insurance Co' or Solicitor will waste their time persuing such a trivial amount IMHO

 

Agree with what Sinewave is telling you mate. I spend a fair amount of time in the company of solicitors and barristers for my sins and tbh in this case unless she's got at least two witnesses or some CCTV of the occurrence there's nothing gonna happen. Plus if your kid is only 7 he can't be done under the law anyway as the age of criminal responsibility is 10.

Getting a crime number is a mere technicality of the insurance industry, means nothing.

No insurance company will fund a legal action for such an unwinnable case.

What is the basis of her allegation, is she saying she witnessed it?

 

Forget it . She legally has to prove it was your son who caused the damage which she cannot. Yes the law does state that your son cannot be charged with an offence but you are the legal guardian and therefore claim some responsibility for his actions which you are a party of whether you were there at the scene of said damage.

 

Agree with the above. She has to prove your sons guilt and not your son proving his innocence. She has no proof so just walk away.

 

Unless she has independent witnesses I reckon she is screwed. Irony is she will be probably be paying more for her car insurance next year as she reported it to them. If it gets nasty have a word with your house insurance company if you have legal cover though them as I suspect any claim would be against 3rd party liability which is normally on contents cover.

 

Best answer on the legal position I can find is this;

There is no cut and dried answer, but legal opinion suggests that a parent would not usually be liable. The court would have to determine whether the child had caused an accident through failing to take ‘reasonable care’ and so had been negligent. That decision would be partly based on the age and understanding of the child, but it is extremely unlikely that anyone injured or with damaged goods as a result of the child’s negligence would sue the child. The parent is not automatically liable for the child’s negligence and would only be liable if it could be proved that the parent themselves was negligent.

So unless you were actively promoting the throwing of stones, or turning a blind eye to a blatantly obvious risk to property, your threatening woman is talking b****cks, and can take no action against you or your child.

 

Cheers guys. Thanks for all your input. Will wait and see what comes from it....

 

Firstly, at 7 years old, your son is below the age of criminal responsibility, so that screws the person making the complaint.

But regardless, the person making the complaint would have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that your son was guilty of the offence. Given what you have said, that would be difficult and the CPS would not entertain a prosecution on such flimsy evidence.

Secondly, and that said (and I do work for a law firm, but not in this area of law), if the complainant wanted to take an action for a civil claim, in order to be able to recover the legal costs, the value of the claim has to be over £5,000. Given that the damage is estimated at £300, that blows them out as well, as it would cost more for legal representation than they are likely to recover. So for example, a claim for £300, plus legal costs probably in the region of a couple of grand, they are likely to be £1700 out of pocket as these legal costs cannot be reclaimed.

Over £5K and costs can be claimed back.

But that is too a large degree immaterial because given his age he cannot be held responsible (certainly criminally wise) and a civil case would be financially prohibitive, (unless the person has more money than sense and is simply a vindictive sod), together which, they would also have to show on the balance of probability of 51% or more that your son was liable (different to criminal law where they have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt) and again I think this would be difficult.

 

+1 ^ I am no legal expert but have done a fair bit of business and contact law to know the above is good advice. My ex-wife married a lawyer and he is very good, you can guess how my divorce panned out, if you need his number give me a shout.

 

All the above is correct, she is screwed in legal terms, but although your lad says he did not do it (not that much of a surprise for his age), is she saying that either herself or someone she knows saw him throw the stones ? Legally i agree she has no chance, but if he did thrown the stones then whether the law says this or that is not the issue, a good parent would take responsibility for their childs actions...... £300 is a bit steep though.