Is the school responsible for damaged laptop?

Novbunnie

More please =]
Mar 6, 2007
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The other day, my friend had a presentation in one of her classes. She needed to use her laptop for the project, so when she placed it on the table, the whole thing fell, damaging her laptop. The table belongs to the school and it turns out that there was a loose screw, causing the whole thing to fall. The whole class saw what happened. I told her to tell the school, but she doesn't know who to contact, so she emailed her TA but he hasn't responded. Should the school pay for the repairs since it was their faulty table? or should she just pay for it herself?? She's pretty upset and i def. don't blame her.
 
That's a hard one. The school is generally not responsible for lost/stolen/ damaged items that are students' personal property.

Was there no computer to use in the class? Was it required that she use her own laptop or was it a matter of convenience? While I require students to do presentations, there is a computer cart in the room and students just bring their project on a flash-drive or CD-ROM.

You may also want to contact the school's IT/Tech Support office and/or facilities department as they may have the policy on liability for students' property.
 
our personal family laptops are insured thru our homeowners policy which includes our out-of-state college sons' laptops too. she should check it out. terrible thing to have happened.
 
the school probably isn't liable unless it was absolutely required that she was using her laptop in that manner. i'd contact the department head for the department that is housed in that building and ask them who to talk to.
 
Hey, Nov...this really sounds like the school is responsible...especially since she was required to use her laptop. (Can they really do that anyway? I mean, laptops aren't really all that inexpensive still....minimum of $500.00 which, in my opinion is a bit steep for a school to require of a student not yet in at least high school!) The table was damaged and really shouldn't have been in a room where students are....they tend to move first and think later! You should call the principal...I am sure that the school has insurance for this kind of thing...luckily, a student wasn't hurt with this table.:yes:
 
I doubt the school would cover the costs. I'm not an attorney, but wouldn't she have to show that the school had a knowingly left a faulty table in the room?