OK heres my neighbor story. My wife and I have guardianship of her sisters 5 kids. My aunt rented her 4 bedroom to us a couple of years ago(BTW, my family owns the whole block, except for a shop on the west corner). So this mechanic buys the shop which is next door to our house. At first he was OK, we would chit chat from time to time, I even helped him push his rusty old jalopies around every now and then. One day the 2 youngest are out front playing( I was watching them through the glass door). All the sudden here he comes, claiming one of the younguns through a rock and hit his car. I was very apologetic and went to look at the damage. He was looking all over the car for at least a minute and then exclaims OH there it is...a tiny scratch smaller than the eraser on a pencil. I ask him what he thinks reapir will be, and he says at least 2000 dollars. Well I actually laughed, and thats when he started to get mad. I tried to calm the situation, telling him I didn't have that kind of money, but I would see what I could do.(BTW, during our discussion he said at first he thought a car had thrown the rock in passing). So I start talking to the kids...they said yeah they had thrown a rock but it was a while before and in the opposite direction of the car. The next day I did some checking at body shops, describing the damage, car, paint etc. Every shop said 300-800 guesstimating. I then contacted my cousin the lawyer, and she said pay nothing and tell him it should be taken to small claims court. I kinda felt bad about that, still wanting to keep good neighbor status. So I got 800 dollars(the highest estimate) and went to him , telling him I would offer that. He said that he knew we had money coming(I had discussed getting some repair work done to my Chevy by him a month before). I told him that was beside the point, that there was no way I was going to repaint his whole car for a tiny scratch. He said then he would sue, and I told him that he should, thats what my lawyer advised, and she said the burden of proof was on him. He then went ballistic, screaming and cirsing me. I was walking away which is extremely hard for me...and then he said "If I catch your kids outside I'll fix the problem". Well no more holding back!!!! I came at him, he ran in his shop and slammed the door. I thne called the police, and file a report on him. He keeps his distance now and I don't let the kids play in the front anymore.
Postscript to story....about a month ago something blew up in his shop, and smoke was coming out. At first I thought "Good I hope you burn with it you SOB,,,,but then I thought about the scripture about when your enemy is thirsty and you should give them water. So I called the fire dept. He showed up as they were putting out the flames, and they told him our call had probably saved him from total loss.
We are waiting on our home in the country to be built....I CAN'T wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!