Who should pay for a laptop damaged at a party?

• Author: Cohen, Randy
• Position: THE ETHICIST: Life's full of questions; he's got answers. - Brief article

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My son was playing music on his laptop for a dozen friends at a party in his college dorm suite. He was in another room when someone spilled a drink on the keyboard. The computer may need a new motherboard--1,300--and no one has come forward to take responsibility. Do you think the guests should share this cost, maybe $100 each? R.G., Port Washington, New York

SO IF I'M in the room when someone breaks something, you think I have an obligation to cover repairs? Why not anybody in the building? On the campus? In the state?

The person who spilled the beverage onto the laptop is responsible for his own actions. But his silence does not shift his duty to whoever happened to be standing nearby.

Had this accident been caused by general, party-wide horseplay, or if, say, collective foot stompin' and hand clappin' shook the laptop onto the floor, then I would urge all present to chip...