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A Babysitter, A Broken Vase, And An Unexpected Demand For Payment In Georgia

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location: georgia

Last weekend I babysat for a neighbor I have known for years. While the kids were playing tag in the living room one of them bumped a small table and a glass vase fell and shattered. It wasn’t expensive looking and no one was hurt so I cleaned it up and told the parents when they came home. They didn’t seem upset at the time and even paid me for the night.

Yesterday they sent me a message demanding that I pay them two hundred dollars because the vase was apparently a “family heirloom.” They said that if I don’t pay by Friday they will take me to court. I never intentionally damaged anything and I was supervising the kids the whole time. They were just being normal energetic kids and the table was really unstable.

My legal question is whether a babysitter in Georgia can be held financially responsible for accidental damage caused by the children during normal supervision. I want to know if a small claims case like this would likely hold me liable or if this is something parents usually assume the risk for when hiring someone to watch their kids.

submitted by /u/LittlePenguin5615
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