2006 New York Code - Liability Of Parents And Legal Guardians Having Custody Of An Infant For Certain Damages Caused By Such Infant

 
    § 3-112. Liability of parents and legal guardians having custody of an
  infant  for  certain  damages  caused by such infant.   1. The parent or
  legal guardian, other than the state, a local social services department
  or a foster parent, of an infant over ten and less than  eighteen  years
  of  age,  shall  be  liable  to  any  public  officer,  organization  or
  authority, having by law the care and/or custody of any public  property
  of  the state or of any political subdivision thereof, or to any private
  individual or organization  having  by  law  the  care,  custody  and/or
  ownership  of  any  private property, for damages caused by such infant,
  where such infant has willfully,  maliciously,  or  unlawfully  damaged,
  defaced  or  destroyed  such public or private property, whether real or
  personal, or, where such infant, with intent to deprive the owner and/or
  custodian of such property or to appropriate  the  same  to  himself  or
  herself  or  to  a  third person, has knowingly entered or remained in a
  building and has wrongfully taken, obtained or withheld such  public  or
  private  personal property from such building which personal property is
  owned or maintained by the state or any political subdivision thereof or
  which  is  owned  or  maintained  by  any  individual,  organization  or
  authority,  or  where  such  infant  has falsely reported an incident or
  placed a false bomb as defined in section 240.50, subdivision one or two
  of section 240.55, section 240.60 or section 240.61 of  the  penal  law.
  Such public officer, organization or authority, or private individual or
  organization,  as the case may be, may bring an action for civil damages
  in a court of competent jurisdiction for  a  judgment  to  recover  such
  damages  from  such  parent  or legal guardian other than the state or a
  local social services department or a foster parent. For the purposes of
  this subdivision, damages for falsely reporting an incident or placing a
  false bomb shall mean the funds  reasonably  expended  by  a  victim  in
  responding  to  such false report, as set forth in subdivision eleven of
  section 60.27 of the penal law. In no event shall such  damages  portion
  of  a  judgment  authorized  by  this  section,  as  described  in  this
  subdivision, exceed the sum of five thousand dollars.
    2. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of this  section,
  prior  to the entering of a judgment under this section in the sum total
  of five hundred dollars or more, the court shall provide such parent  or
  legal guardian of such infant with an opportunity to make an application
  to  the  court  based  upon  such parent's or legal guardian's financial
  inability to pay any portion or all of the  amount  of  such  sum  total
  which  is in excess of five hundred dollars, and upon the return date of
  such application, or  any  adjournment  thereof,  the  court  shall,  in
  summary  fashion,  hear  and consider all evidence of financial hardship
  presented tending to establish the inability of  such  parent  or  legal
  guardian  to  pay any or all of the amount of the sum total in excess of
  five hundred dollars, and the court shall render its decision as to such
  party's inability to make such payment based upon a preponderance of the
  evidence presented. Upon a decision that such party has established  his
  or  her  inability  to  make  such  payment,  the  court shall enter the
  judgment authorized  by  this  section  but  in  an  amount  within  the
  financial  capacity of such parent or legal guardian, provided, however,
  that since the original of the sum total exceeded five hundred  dollars,
  no  such judgment shall be entered for an amount which is less than five
  hundred dollars.
    3. It shall be a defense to an action brought under this section  that
  restitution   has   been   paid   pursuant   to  section  seven  hundred
  fifty-eight-a or 353.6 of the family court  act,  or  paragraph  (g)  of
  subdivision  two  of section 65.10 of the penal law.  It shall also be a
  defense to an action brought under this section  that  such  infant  had
  voluntarily  and  without good cause abandoned the home of the parent or
  guardian and without good cause refused to submit to  the  guidance  and
  control  of  the  parent  or  guardian  prior  to and at the time of the
  occurrence of such damages or destruction.  In no event shall  it  be  a
  defense  that  the  parent  or legal guardian has exercised due diligent
  supervision over the activities of such infant, provided, however,  that
  in   the  interests  of  justice,  the  court  may  consider  mitigating
  circumstances that bear directly upon the actions of the parent or legal
  guardian in supervising such unemancipated infant.
    4. For the purposes of this section the  following  definitions  shall
  apply:
    a.  The terms "enters or remains unlawfully" and "building" shall have
  the same meaning as ascribed to such terms  in  section  140.00  of  the
  penal law.
    b.  "Public  officer, organization or authority" shall include but not
  be limited to: those having by law the care and custody of  a  municipal
  district or corporation; those having by law the care and custody of the
  public  property  of  the  state  or  of  any agency, department, board,
  bureau, commission, division, office, council, committee of  the  state,
  or of a public benefit corporation or public authority; and the board of
  education  or trustees of any city, union free or common school district
  or the city board of any New York City community school district.
    c. "Private individual or organization"  shall  include,  but  not  be
  limited to: any individual, private or public corporation or partnership
  or   sole   proprietorship,   organized  church,  synagogue  or  temple,
  not-for-profit organization or corporation, cemetery corporation, or, if
  such liability is as a result  of  damage  upon  any  cemetery  plot  or
  mausoleum,  the next of kin of a person upon whose gravesite such damage
  or destruction occurred.