Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Texas

My son threw a binder belonging to another student in the lunch room trash can at school after the student tried throwing away my son's property in the trash can. The student retrieved his binder moments later. The next day the student's mother claimed that the student's $500 I-phone had been in the binder and was lost in the trash and my son is responsible for replacing it. How would small claims court view this case? The mother of the student admitted that her son did not have her permission to bring the phone to school.


Asked on 3/13/15, 7:04 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

If the mother can prove the facts are as she said then you probably owe her for the value of the phone. Your son's conduct caused the phone to be thrown in the trash and destroyed (or at least lost). Whether the amount you may owe would be the full replacement cost of a new phone or just the market value of the used phone is a different question.

The mother should have to prove that the phone was purchased, her son had it in his binder and that he failed to retrieve it from the trash through no fault of his own. In small claims court her testimony may be enough to prove all of that.

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Answered on 3/13/15, 3:16 pm


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