14-year-old girl sues friend over missing iPod
By Peter Rojas 
posted August 23rd 2006 4:48AM
posted August 23rd 2006 4:48AM
You gotta love the litigousness of youth -- especially when there's an iPod involved. A spat over a missing iPod resulted in a lawsuit in Wheaton, Illinois, when 14-year-old Shannon Derrik sued her (now former) friend Stephanie Eick for losing her brand new iPod. It seems that Shannon made the fool mistake of lending her iPod to Stephanie, who decided it'd be a good idea to give back the iPod by leaving it on Shannon's desk rather than waiting for her to return from the restroom to hand it over in person. The iPod managed to disappear -- apparently someone in that classroom had some sticky fingers -- and so Shannon sued for $475 in damages and court fees (she says she did a LOT of babysitting to pay for that iPod). The case was initially tossed because of an improper filing, but it looks like the two girls will finally square off in court in about a month (the word on the street is that they're gearing up for a serious showdown in the cafeteria when school starts up again). Ryan and I will be headed to Wheaton next month to liveblog the entire trial, we really have no choice to put all our resources into coverage of a case of this magnitude.[Thanks, Ricardo]
Well, if a 14-year-old can fall victim to the legal system in legal matters, then it's fair enough that they should have the right to use it on those who have wronged them. This would be a different story entirely if the girls had simply had their parents deal with the issue; it wouldn't even be here.
However, if children are allowed as complainants or plaintiffs, then that says quite a bit more than is being delved into here about what the age of adulthood really is anymore. Teenagers filing lawsuits? Isn't one of the things which stops kids under 18 from doing other court-based things (like marriage) that they are not able to legally enter into a contract? If a 14-year-old can't legally enter a contract, then how can they retain the services of a lawyer?
Perhaps this is just an overblown small claims case between the parents of the girls, over an overblown piece of electronic crap?
If she's so responsible for having a job, then why can't she be responsible enough to take care of her problems outside of the court system?
Ah, well. Sorry. I guess I just had a lot on my mind that this just dredged up.
Do any of you fools understand what a lawsuit is for? Let's say someone steals/loses your belongings. That thing, whatever it was, is worth MONEY, meaning that in order to replace it you'd have to purchase it again... where's that money gonna come from? You?! When it's someone else's fault?! Hell no! You get the money from the person who lost/stole it, duh! Now, what happens if they don't wanna pay you? Give up? Just say oh well I guess I'll spend money on something that someone lost or stole from me. Hell no! You sue their ass! You use our legal system to FORCE that person to pay up! Lawsuits aren't necessarily a bad thing. Why are you all being so retarded?!
To add to what Ryan Smith said:
(note: not trying to bash anyone/country, except the ignorant)
While $20,000/year might make you rich in South American, it basically means your poor in the U.S. (if you are not just one person).
For those who are bashing Americans and saying that it isn't your government, it is YOU. Come on and get your head out of your ***. (ok, I'm calming down now). I am not the one making the foreign policy decisions nor am I the one that makes our governments spending decisions. It just happens to turn out that the people who have made these decisions are greedy and rich. See, what many fail to realize is that while American's get to vote, the right people don't always get in. what I am trying to say is that I disagree with the current foreign policy (of go into a non-Democratic country that is really kind of keeping to themselves and "democrisize" them) or our spending (do you think I want to spend $8billion/month I think it is on a war? HELL NO! fyi, I support the troops, not the war). What I am trying to say here is that before you (anyone not living in America, or living in America, that hates Americans) call us stupid and say you hate us, pick up a copy of the Constitution and READ IT (EDUCATE YOURSELVES)! You will realize that the framers put in that the people elect the congresspeople and other parts of the government (not all parts) and the elected make and pass the laws as well as appoint others. This was written at a time were greed and financial gain was not as big, and neither was lying. I do think that the government is getting a bit out of hand and dishonest.
So if you want to blame somebody and say that you hate somebody I want you to properly educate yourselves first, and then ask yourselves, "Is my hating somebody really going to help anything?" If you answered no to the last question, then stop hating and bashing. Also, I would advise that you have a talk with a group of Americans before you bash us. You might be surprised as to what you hear. And by the way, not all Americans are fat.
Now, to the topic at hand. I thinking uncontrolled suing is stupid (think the person who put a cup of coffee in his lap, spilt it and then sued McDonalds, although McDonalds was found to be over heating their coffee so that they could put more water and less coffee in it, the heat would burn the tastebuds, thus making it difficult to taste a difference). It is my opinion that these parents (who are the ones who can legally do the suing) should have found a more civil way to resolve this. If they couldn't, that is what a small claims court is for (as mentioned previously). There is the plaintiff, the defendant and a judge (+ an audience if you do one of those TV acts).
There is nothing wrong with a 14 year old having an iPod (kudos if she earned all of the money herself). When I was her age, I had a Palm IIIc with me, at all times. Now I carry around a $300 PDA and a $500 Treo. (you can use that info to guess my age) There is nothing wrong with that. But, I make sure that I can either see, or feel these devices at all times, and I don't lend them to people.
Enough said (I hope I didn't add to the flame wars).
Ktino
Your amazing juxtaposition of cursing (literally with the fanciest of fancy words) and following it up with quoting Jesus is really something. Haven't you ever read James 3:9-3:12. But let me guess, to you Jesus was this nice quotable guy, similar to Plato, Aristotle, etc. ? Gimme a break.
Back to the topic at hand: little girl loses friends iPod = little girl pays back for lost iPod. That simple.
And, to all you America haters, please. You don't know diddly squat about my country. You probably are under the same assumptions that many internationals are under: that America is actually a christian nation and yet we have Hollywood, we are colonialists, we think we're better , etc.
You watch too much television. Every time someone from the outside comes to this lovely country, they soon find out (most of the time) that what they thought of 350 Million people was incorrect. No Hollywood movie, no news report, no word of mouth about what America is is accurate because this country is so many things, it's so many cultures, and can be great . Sure, we have our faults as a nation, but by no means do our mistakes define us. These little girls fighting it out about an iPod is really two parents fighting it out. One parent wants her daughter duly compensated for her loss of property. Duh.
I'm not so stupid to imagine that what I saw in London or Paris or Rome (when I went just the two times that I did) is a complete picture of what Great Britain, France, and Italy are all about. I saw drunkards in the street, in London, I saw some dodgy people coming up to me and one guy nearly assaulting me, and in Rome, I wasn't too comfortable with some of the people I saw walking around at night.
But, I did not come away from any of those countries feeling as if I understood what the whole country was really about. I'm not ignorant. Those few weirdos i saw don't define a nation. Nor would I take a leap of opinion based on what I see on the news either. No, that's just you stupid America-cursing morons that are little sophmoric 12 years olds excited to have an opinion ( a negative one) about America. Congratulations, you're so smart. You have an opinion!
Rant over.
Aaron, I am going to guess that this is an issue between the parents. Generally things like this tend to be (allusion to the sports games where the kids have fun, but the parents yell and curse at the coaches/refs because they didn't like a call, I had this happen to me when I didn't catch a play when I was umpiring for Little League). It is just a greed issue. Chances are, the 14 year old is "plaintiff" because the "wrong doing" was to her, but the parents are the puppeteers.
A) A 14 year old does not necessarily need an IPod.. It is too expensive of a device to be toating around. It becomes a magnent of attention and greed, and problems like this are only bound to happen.
B) Why for the love of god would you bring it to school? In the 90's when I was in school, back then it wasn't safe to have anything worth more than 10 dollars on you.. Anything as simple as a CD, Trading Cards, etc. would easily and rapidly be stolen before lunch. Taking such an expensive device to school goes to strengthen argument A.
C)Going to court over it... I hope she learned her lesson. The suit is not going to bring her Ipod back, and she's even likely to lose it. Friends who let others borrow their cards, then the cars get stolen when they just drop it off in front of their house, are not held responsible. So the girl is actually going to lose money in court costs...
And the fact that it was improperly filed shows me that they have not consulted with a lawyer, otherwise he would have told them it was a waste of time.