儿子给出的难题, 恳请老猫及有经验的人士给些建议. 多谢!

事情发生在春假之前，也就是三月份。我儿子在学校的乐队课间休息时，走到他左后方去和同学说话，另一个同学坐在他背后，手里拿着小提琴的弓，弓的前端正好放在了我儿子的脚后，我儿子后退一步正好踩在弓尖上，把那位同学的弓尖踩断了。乐队上课是大课，当时很多人，大家都在讲话。我儿子当时不知道那位同学的弓在他脚后。事后儿子回家没有告诉我们，一周后老师给儿子一个单子，告诉我们儿子踩坏了同学的弓子，让我们与对方家长联系。我们马上给那位同学的家长写了单子，告诉他们我们刚刚知道这件事，并附上我们的联系电话及电子信箱，希望他们与我们联系，商量 解决办法。

昨天，也就是一个月后，那位同学的家长送来一封信， 并附了一张replacement appraisal。上面写道：“To replace bow/copy of violin/France Pernambucco Silver mounted/ value $500”。

信的内容如下：

Good Day Mr.Xxxx,

I am writing to you on the unfortunate situation of having the bow that Xxxx(我儿子) stepped on replaced. I appreciate you sending your contact information to me earlier. I had obtained an appraisal from a luthier (violin maker” for the replacement cost of the bow shortly after the incident. I chose not to forward the information as it was just before Spring Break and felt that it should not disrupt your family’s vacation time.

The luthier advised that the bow in un-repairable due to the location of the break. Had it been closer to the frog of the bow it may have been repairable but the tip is so slim and takes so much stress and added weight from any repair would greatly affect the playability of the bow.

The appraisal on the bow is $500. This bow has been in my family for approximately 32 years. You may ask why Xxxx(他儿子) had such a valuable bow is because his graphite bow that was valued at over $200 was taken from his violin case earlier that month and as an interim he was required to lock his case and was given this bow until his bow would be replaced. Needless to say the month was a very expensive month for us, as far as, instrument costs.

The bow was one of my 2 personal bows and it is my preferred so I felt it would be more playable for Alan. The only other bow I had was valued over $800 (back in 2000), is a much heavier bow than Xxxx (他儿子) would use, and was not an option.

I trust that you appreciate our loss and we know that the incident was an unfortunate one. I thank you in advance for your prompt response.


Sincerely,

Xxxx



我的问题是：

1．我儿子在这件事上应当应该负多少责任？
2．我们应当如何解决这件事？
3．我们是否应该问他们要那个弓也去做一个appraisal？
4．如果双方谈不拢要上法庭，情况会怎样？我们应当做些什么准备？

谢谢各位的建议和帮助!