Florida:
Son has g/f who got ticked at him when they argued and asked old b/f and another friend to beat my son up. She was ticked at that moment in time yet they stayed together. Three weeks later when she tells him what she did, he goes to the guys house at 12:30 am to try and talk it out, that it was a misunderstanding what happened between him and the girlfriend. (His father and I tried to instill in him to talk things out, not fight). We live in a small town and because they all go to the same parties, he didn't want to be somewhere and have the dude coming after him.
When he got there he knocked on the door and the guy comes out yelling that he doesn't want to talk to him, right off the bat. My son kept telling him to "chill out" he wanted to talk about what his girlfriend had told him. The guy kept yelling, told my son to leave, he even woke his own mother up with his yelling and then punched my son in the face, destroying his nose.
In the police report (we took him to the hospital and they called the police) it states that my son went to talk to the kid about the g/f stuff. The ER took Xrays of my sons nose and said he had a fracture but sent him off with a referral to see an ENT Dr. Due to the swelling it was real hard to tell the true damage. The police asked if my son wanted to press charges and he said yes.
My son had to have surgury to repair the septum in his nose that had been hit so hard that it totally blocked his airway. He was between jobs and had no insurance so we the parents incurred the costs.
In the first court appearance, the kid plead not guilty, particulary since the bill has come to 6900.00.
This first pre trial, he came with attorney who asked for a continuance stating that they had to talk to witness' (my son only saw the mother) the attorney said there were two; and I guess they will contact us. When I saw the attorney in the parking lot I asked why the continuance (b/c I couldn't hear in the courtroom) and he told me the above and also stated that my son was tresspassing. Hmmmmm...that's how their playing it I thought.
Now to the cruxt of the matter...in the police report when the cop talked to the other kid...he stated that my son came over and wanted to talk to him about the comment from the g/f; that my son had a beer in his hand, and that when my son came toward him in a non threatening manner, he didn't know his intentions so he hit my son.
The mother stated that she woke up due to the yelling and when she came out, her son said that 'this kid won't leave'. She then said that the 'kid came towards her son and he hit him". Nothing was ever said about Chris being aggressive which he wasn't, the police report from them even mentioned how my son kept telling the other kid to chill out...he was there to talk.
Obviously the kid is guilty of the assault charges but how does it work that it's okay to hit someone, even if you are calling it tresspassing. In our views, you have no right to lay your hands on anyone no matter what. We are simply asking for restitution for the medical charges and are afraid that we may get shafted somehow.
I have tried to look up tresspassing stuff but the legalize is killer! I get that if you come to someones house and they ask you to leave, it is now considered tresspassing but does that mean that they can hit you; even if in the kids own words....my son "came toward him in a non threatening manner." Truly, when I imagine it...my kid had a beer in his hand and was in a postion of someone who was trying to talk to someone as if at a party.
I believe if I were to go to someone's house at 3am, naked, holding a jug of moonshine and singing to the top of my lungs; you may not be happy with me and want me off your property, but you still have no right to hit me. Am I wrong in this? Should I really worry about the next court date? How do you think it could go? Thank you so much for your insight.

