Liability question with damage by Sal. Army movers

[Stretch]

My brother donated a bedroom set to the Salvation Army, and they broke his neighbor's window while moving the furniture. He didn't notice the damage until the movers left, and called the local office to report the damage/have it documented.

His apartment manager is telling him that he is liable for paying for the repairs, and can get reimbursed by the Salvation Army later on his own time. His lease expires soon, and he's worried about not getting her security deposit back.

I couldn't really find anything on Google about this -- any lawyers on the board have thoughts on what the appropriate path is here (i.e., pay for the repairs and get reimbursed, vs. have the apartment manager deal with Salvation Army directly)?

[crb]

he is probably not liable, but many leases say you are responsible to damage done by your guests, and one could argue the salvation army were his guests. Of course I just stayed in a holiday inn express last night. I may be evil, but I'm not evil enough to be a lawyer.

[Viekn]

I'm no lawyer either, but from the number of times I have rented places and moved from places, I'd say he is liable. The people were there with permission from him, so anything they do he is at least partly liable for. The issue becomes this: if the Salvation Army people didn't see it when they were there, what proof does Salvation Army have that they caused it? For all Salvation Army knows, your brother caused the damage him self after they left. Unless Salvation Army is willing to be quick about paying for the repair, I'd say your brother should just front the money and worry about getting reimbursed from Salvation Army later, if he ends up getting reimbursed at all.

[Silvean]

If the landlord takes it out of the security deposit, it's probably more trouble than it's worth to fight over the matter. They should check the local renter's laws to see how taking money out of a security deposit works, e.g. the landlord may need to provide a bill explaining the deductions.