My Boat damaged by drunk teenagers

[njmr2fan]

Throwing a bottle, rock, golf club, whatever may constitute an aggravated assault, at the very least its criminal mischief since there was damage involved. Hope you took photos of the teens, the pontoon, the damage, and the womans ID. It puts them all at the scene, and identifies them, might even catch on film underage guys with beverages in their hands.

*oops, missed post #8. Hope she makes everything 100%

 

[Wayloncle]

This does suck, but it looks like you handled it pretty well. I believe I would have lost it. Disrespectful teenagers probably tops my list of things I hate. My wife is like yours. She would have been telling them off, then if they said something to her, I would have lost it. I believe this woman has a lot to lose and will make it right. The sad thing is they will probably have to replace that top windshield rail. I don't know how this can repair a dent like that otherwise.

I don't plan on trying to get the dent fixed, I need to go back to my boat and see if that top rail can come off by itself, if so it should be pretty easy.

One quote I got from a local repair place said $1200 to replace it! But he said the only way he can get it is buying the whole right side glass and frame at about $900. Still waiting for the Yamaha dealer to respond with a quote.

 

[Wayloncle]

I would have called the police early on. Kids are just stupid these days. I can remember trying to drink underage in college, it was almost like a covert mission not to be seen by anyone.

Side note, what heck kind of bottle hit your boat, glass, plastic or metal??

It was a large glass liquor bottle, I looked at what it was but soon forgot in my initial rage, sort of the shape of a Southern Comfort bottle.

 

[soundshark]

To be honest, if it's me, I'm making sure she's busted for providing alcohol to minors.

And THAT is your leverage on her.... be sure to mention it to her. Nobody wants to get busted for that. She will pay up.

 

[Evil Sports]

There another use for the T shirts that says...... Instant Asshole just add alcohol

 

[Wayloncle]

Little update, the lady turned it all over to the kid's parents, but I have only talked to the kid as I don't have the parents info. Couple weeks ago he told me $800 is too much money for that frame, I sent them 3 estimates the lowest was $759 and highest $1200. I told him I would agree to $750. He hasn't responded to my calls or texts since then, and the "responsible" adult lady won't respond to me either.

Tonight my wife called the dude from her phone and he answered, she explained to him that if he didn't pay we were calling the police and stuff, then he started telling her he never got a receipt then said $800 is too expensive and he won't pay that much for "that little piece".

We also left a message at the lady's work number, saying she needed to call us back.

So tomorrow I will be calling FWC and see what we can do with the report that I made that day.

Lesson learned, I will never take anyone's word for a situation like this again.
.....I've learned a lot of lessons this last month or so. Unfortunately they were all the hard way:-/

 

[Wayloncle]

I don't plan on trying to get the dent fixed, I need to go back to my boat and see if that top rail can come off by itself, if so it should be pretty easy.

One quote I got from a local repair place said $1200 to replace it! But he said the only way he can get it is buying the whole right side glass and frame at about $900. Still waiting for the Yamaha dealer to respond with a quote.

Just to clarify my statement, I will fix the frame, I just don't plan to try and beat the dent out or just fix the dent, I will replace the frame piece.

 

[MOA_Chaser]

They've all had their opportunity to do the right thing, and passed it up.

Time to go "scorched earth" on them.

 

[soundshark]

I said this before, I would not have gone easy on them in the first place. But, since you're at this point, go to town on their asses.
If you have a lawyer friend, write everything up in a nice letter and have them sign it. That legal letterhead works wonders.
I would open by saying she allowed and encouraged underage drinking, and all of that will be in front of the court.
They deserve zero sympathy.

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Go back to the lady who allowed this drunken activity and say that the boy and parent are ignoring your requests for payment. Ask her for help in this matter and remind her of her good standing in the community and she wouldn't want the details and photos of that day to be entered into a court hearing.

 

[Ronnie]

I would consider going the small claims court route on the "responsible" adult and the "irresponsible" kid. Faster and no lawyers.

 

[rkluck]

I would also go back to the lady that was handling the situation. Just because she sent you to the parents doesn't take the responsibility away from her. You said she has a business in town so it should be easy to reach her. You can also send a certified letter summarizing the situation, what the cost is and the expected timeline ($750 by xxx). This clearly shows you have attempted everything you can to work with her before taking her to court. They must have seen a picture of the damage or they couldn't say it was small. One other approach is to challenge them to get estimates from a business (not someone they know) themselves so they can understand why this is $750. It is too bad this even happened. I have done stupid things in the past as well but we never threw bottles at boats or people much less in the day at a place that many families were at!

 

[captainhook]

Did you make a police report? As far as I'm concerned, she was probably drinking too. I can't stand irresponsible idiots who put others in danger. I can't even think about what would've happened had that bottle hit someone.

 

[Glassman]

I'm afraid to say it, but at this point in time you may be left with no choice but to file suit in small claims court and keep your fingers crossed. You said, "I caught a glimpse of something flying, nothing to be alarmed of as seagulls are flying all over, then I here THUNK!"

So you didn't actually see who threw the bottle.

It could be a "he said, she said" type of thing now - since there was no police report taken at the the time. Any allegations of ANYONE being drunk are completely useless - you didn't call the cops so nobody was deemed intoxicated by any police authority.

Sorry to say it, but sometimes calling the LEO right away to file a report is your only means of protecting yourself down the road.

If there is any type of social media pressure that you can apply, start now. Maybe this "Lady" will own up to her guests damage. Maybe she won't.

Good luck to you. Sometimes it doesn't pay to be the nice guy in a scenario like this.

 

[Belleville_Boater]

What a crappy situation for you, sorry for your ordeal. I would love to know how a teenager who obviously knows nothing about responsibility or appreciating other peoples property could even dare say that the $800 estimate is to much. He probably thinks everything just comes free because mommy and daddy always take care of it. Just another example of a spoiled brat living under misguided parenting it sounds like to me. Well... karma's a bitch and hope it comes back on this assclown two fold! Good luck and hope it that you pull no punches on everyone involved especially the woman who obviously thought being nice and gaining your trust would hopefully just make you go away.

 

[Wayloncle]

I did make a report when it happened, but it was an over the phone report, LEO didn't come to the scene, the lady gave me her driver's licenses so I could take a photo of it. It's her information that is on the report, she should pay me then try to get the kid/parents pay her back.

She wasn't drinking, earlier before it all happened some of the kids were trying to get her to drink but she wouldn't, we weren't mingling with them, they just happened to be closer to us when I over heard that going on.

I just want them to pay, even if I spend more on court fees or whatever, I just don't want them to get away with it without paying for what they caused.

They have seen the damage, I sent them photos, they were all around the boat when I pointed it out to them and even let the one respectful young man get in my boat to take photos of it with the liquor splattered all over the window and head compartment door.
The kid admitted to throwing it, he is just a spoiled punk, and I'm 90% positive he is the one that kept running his mouth after it happened saying "I can't believe you are worried about that little dent" and stuff like that. Later, after they left my wife's friend that was with us told me he was saying "I'll give that guy a dent to be concerned about" and crap like that...I'm glad I didn't hear him say that at the time.

My wife sent him screen shots of the estimates again last night when he said $800 was too much, he then said those were for the whole windshield so had to explain you can't just buy the one piece, and he is more than welcome to take the boat info and photos to get his own estimates.

 

[Wayloncle]

Did you make a police report? As far as I'm concerned, she was probably drinking too. I can't stand irresponsible idiots who put others in danger. I can't even think about what would've happened had that bottle hit someone.

I did make a report.
My 8 year old said "if that bottle would have hit me or Cole (my 3 year old) I don't think Gettysburg would be the bloodiest battle any longer"

He had just read a book about the Gettysburg battle

I probably would have completely lost my mind if it did hit one of them, it landed 10-15 feet from them, the kid has no clue what could have happened, or doesn't care anyway.

 

[Ronnie]

If he said it was too much in writing print a copy of it and submit it as support in the small claims filing. Court fees are relatively cheap in small claims but even if you get a judgement in your favor you may have to pay someone to collect it for you unless the defendant-respondent pays it without issue or delay.

 

[PEARCE]

If it would have hit anyone you would have called law enforcement and someone would have gone to jail. I'm glad no one in your family, and especially the kids, were hurt or even aware of what was really going on. That's a blessing there. IMO the punk needs to pay one way or another and he needs a hard lesson of responsibility with respect.

 

[tdonoughue]

You know, there are only so many boat insurance companies out there. Call a few of the popular ones. You have the boater's information. Try to file a claim. Just tell them you don't have the policy number and they will look it up by name or by the boat info. Bet you try 4 of them and get a hit. Then just let their insurance pay.