<p>I had hoped I would never have a real problem to discuss, but... Lat week my D was walking through the busy dining hall when she tripped over a young mans laptop cable. He had strung this cord across a busy pathway, several feet from where he was actually sitting. The cord was evidently pretty close to the color of the floor. Well the laptop is toast, and now Mr Stupidhead wants My D to pay his entire $250 deductible to replace his machine. We encouraged her to talk to the Dean of Students office, but they were not much help. She can either settle up with this boy or get involved in the cumbersome and time consuming student court system. We rold her to offer to pay half to mske him go away: we will talk to her tonight to see if it worked. I am tempted yo have a chat with the actual Dean of Students, or perhaps refuse to pay until I have talked to this boy's parents on the phone. D might cringe, but this money will be coming out of our pocket, not hers, so a little helicoptering might be in order. I am fuming that this....jerk can get away with pressuring my D into paying for HIS stupidity.
And can I vent for a second?? Our children may be legally adults (which is a laugh, but a topic for another thread,) but sometimes they still act very much like the children who point at each other by the broken vase. I think colleges need some quick and dirty version of small claims court; a place where an adult could settle small differences and prevent the nagging emails and angry phone calls that my D might have to deal with if she does not pay the blackmail---I mean deductible.<br>
For our part we have absolved her of blame and told her to be glad she did break an arm--or worse--on the hard floor. In the end, it's only money. But I am frustrated that the admimstration doesn't have a better way to handle things like this. O.K.,you're in the jury box. Who is guilty, and who should pay?? Thanks for listening</p>
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Gee. If this is provable, and I’ll assume it is, some photographic evidence would do quite nicely. If it was my D , she wouldn’t be paying anything.</p>
<p>So, she tripped over a cord thrown across a busy walkway? I wonder what would have happened if she had fallen, hit her head and required stitches? Would this boy pay her medical insurance deductible for her hospital visit? About 200-300 bucks…</p>
<p>If your daughter had tripped and broken her leg or injured her head, would you have sued the boy? If the answer is yes, then he is very lucky that he only lost his laptop.</p>
<p>BB - we were thinking exact same thing.</p>
<p>BB- that’s what I was thinking. The guy ought to be grateful she wasn’t hurt and isn’t asking him for money! Just curious, did she have a tray in hand when she missed seeing the cord? Not that is matters that much, but again, the stupidity of stringing a cord across a floor in a location where people’s views can be obstructed by what they are carrying.</p>
<p>From your description my verdict would be for your D. I’ve seen people string their laptop power cords across areas in dangerous ways. If that’s what he did then clearly he was at fault and if anything, should be apologizing to your D.</p>
<p>If there’s some sort of ‘trial’ for something like this then I agree with the other poster to ‘reconstruct’ the scenario, take some good pictures with the digital camera, and be prepared to fight the case to the highest court in the land (Dean’s office??).</p>
<p>The cord should not have been placed across a pathway. I would not offer to pay anything. I vote your daughter innocent.</p>
<p>Another vote for your D being innocent and the computer cord guy having set up a hazard. </p>
<p>IMO offering to pay half is excessively (over the top/more than) fair and she should not be required to pay anything. IF this goes to the student court I can’t imagine any other outcome. Were there witnesses who can back up her description of the scene?</p>
<p>Please do not enable the jerk.</p>
<p>ditto the above. don’t pay a dime to this kid.</p>
<p>^ditto post #8.</p>
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<p>Absolutely. He should be apologizing to her! Why isn’t he accepting responsibility for his stupidity? Perhaps he should be approaching her with flowers instead of a bill, but that isn’t going to happen.</p>
<p>I think the kid is scared to tell his parents, and therefore is pushing your daughter. Then he can go to his folks and say, “See? It wasn’t my fault!”</p>
<p>The threat of no payment until you talk to his parents may do wonders.</p>
<p>Everything I want to say has already been said, msreadalot.</p>
<p>I would suggest going through the student court system, no matter how cumbersome it may seem. Worst case scenario - paying him full price. But I would think at most a reduced price may be suggested by the court system. Administratively speaking, it seems to be the best venue.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Edit:</p>
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<p>Ya, try talking to his parents and see what happens.</p>
<p>Let me be the 12th juror to say she is not guilty as charged! HE should be extremely grateful that SHE did not suffer a horrible injury!!</p>
<p>I don’t know, to me it seems very unusual for someone to string their laptop cable across a busy pathway in the cafeteria. That’s fairly unusual at my school during mealtimes. Which makes me a little suspicious. My first thought was his laptop was already broken and this is a way to get someone else to pay for it (or pay for an upgrade on the other hand). Maybe that’s a little out there but the “setup” seems kind of contrived. How is it broken? Did it actually hit the ground and physically break in half or something? It just seems to me that someone who cared at all about their laptop wouldn’t put a non visible cable in a pathway.</p>
<p>Tell your daughter to go to the student court and let them decide. Maybe its cumbersome, but it sounds like that’s what it’s set up for. I wouldn’t offer to pay a dime. </p>
<p>I was also wondering the tray question myself.</p>
<p>There are usually two sides to every story, but assuming your facts are true and there are no other facts to consider, I thought your Ds offer to pay half was way too generous. The boy strung a cord across a busy pathway in a busy dining room. He created the dangerous condition. Your D should claim that having created this condition, he was responsible for warning others of the hazard and his failure to warn makes him totally responsible for his loss. Id have my kid fight it. It would be a good life lesson for your D. She is at schoool to learn. How much time and effort could really be involved?</p>
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Life is cumbersome and time consuming. Learning to go through a process like this is an educational experience. Your daughter should take advantage of the opportunity.</p>
<p>IANAL, again, but I would think about considering this plan: </p>
<p>Forget the student court system, have your daughter drop by the local court and have the clerk of the court walk her through the procedure for filing suit in municipal court. A little slip-and-fall lawsuit filing for unspecified damages due to a non-specific injury might give the young man involved some sense of proportion and drop the matter.</p>
<p>WashDad, I was thinking the same - small-claims suit for damaged clothes caused by spilled spaghetti sauce due to tripping over the cord. 
Really, the boy need to grow up and pay for his own stupidity.</p>