7 year olds are kids, not stupid... He knew exactly what he was doing. There's a great likelihood that he didn't fully comprehend the consequences of his actions, and hadn't considered potential monetary penalties etc... But he still knew damn well what he was doing. Unfortunately his mother will have to share in the responsibility by compensating the neighbor for damages. And hopefully the kid has to work it off a bit with chores or something like that.

well I think the kid didn't mean harm, maybe he thought it was just something that went on plants so he figured he'd experiment on the neighbor's pretty flowers. but either way I think op is also kinda at fault for leaving her/his kid unattended and probably refused to pay for the garden thus why they are being taken to court... then again this is a lot to assume from one sentence so whatever I guess

7-year-olds can read. He's old enough to read the label on the weed killer, and he's old enough to understand that he was destroying something that didn't belong to him.

Because he is angry and wants to make sure he gets the costs. When he calms down he might change his mind.

The weed killer might have been the neigbour's and left in his own yard not thinking there would be a trespasser. There's a chance that the child didn't mean to do harm and thought he was just being helpful. Still the parents' responsibility! They're neighbours. Why not try and make peace vs being enemies? If the neighbour is willing to allow the kid to help... why not? The 7 year old will learn something and maybe appreciate the beauty and hard work it takes to grow such a garden.

I agree that the neighbour should have tried to settle this out of court first before taking it to court. But I also wonder if the money that went into the garden is a really crazy high number and he just assumed that Op wouldn't openly be willing to pay all that? I wouldn't be surprised if the money that went into this garden was several hundred dollars or something. Or maybe Op reacted in a way that made the neighbour feel like he couldn't deal well with him or that op wouldn't be reasonable and that's why he chose to go the court route? It's possible he felt he had a good reason to go directly to court.

Several hundred dollars? Try thousands. My neighbor growing up competed in rose competitions and placed really well. When her next door neighbor mowed down all her rose bushes they ended up going to court over it. She ended up with a $15,000 settlement.

Small claims court has a smaller limit.

I was going to say thousands but I wasn't that sure about pricing. I also wondered about the possibility of the neighbour placing his roses in competitions which would increase the number significantly, but I didn't know if the average rose bush grower did that. I went with hundreds because I felt it would be the lower end of what it probably costs and maybe more average for a less serious hobbiest and your average neighbour. But yes, theoretically the number could be up into the thousands if the neighbour isn't just an average neighbourhood gardening type.

The kid destroyed his property, and possibly a source of income as well if he took the flowers to competitions. If the parent refused to pay for the damages, he's perfectly justified in going to court to seek compensation.