If you've never done so, I encourage you to look around Google Answers. Google Answers is a simple yet brilliant system: Ask a question, telling the person who will answer your question in advance what you're willing to pay for an answer, and wait for an answer. Anyhow, I found this interesting question:
My son destroyed a personal item of another student which was left in the hallway of his dorm. The campus police was called and they said that if he paid for the item he would not be charged with what they said would be a felony. When asked the owner said the item was worth $2000 (which we feel is quite high for an item like that - especially since it was left out in the hallway). My son agreed to pay, but the owner told him to wait until yesterday when he informed my son that he wanted $3400 for the item.
Does he have any choice but to pay the increased amount? Should we pay with a certified check? Should we demand to get the remains of the damaged item when we pay? Should we demand to have the item appraised by a third party? What if he claims to have discarded the item? What else do you recommend?
The person might overpay by thousands of dollars. What was he willing to pay for an answer that might have saved him hundreds or thousands of dollars? Ten bucks. I'm beginning to feel less and less sorry for people who talk to the police without representation because they're unwilling to pay a reasonable legal fee. This guy might get his son sent to prison, or he might lose $1,400 he didn't have to lose, because he wouldn't pay a lawyer a $100-or-so bucks to look at his case.
