Reference no: EM13962620

In the fall of 2001, Kim Young, who at the time was 18 years old and had been living with her parents all of her life, decided that she “wanted to move out and get away from [her] parents and be on [her] own.” Young and a friend, Ashley Springer, also a minor at the time, signed a contract for the lease of an apartment with Phillip Weaver on September 20, 2001. No adult signed the lease as a guarantor. Young was employed on a full-time basis at a Lowe's hardware store at the time she entered into the lease agreement. Young paid a security deposit in the amount of $300; the rent for the apartment was $550 per month, and the lease was set to expire on July 31, 2002. Young and Springer moved into the apartment in late September and, together, paid rent at the agreed-upon rate for the portion of that month in which they lived in the apartment. Young and Springer continued to live in the apartment during October and most of November 2001. Young moved out near the end of November and returned to live with her parents. Young paid the full amount of her portion of the rent for October and November, but she stopped making any rent payments after she moved out of the apartment. Young had a dog that stayed in the apartment, and the dog damaged part of the floor and the bathroom door in the apartment, causing $270 in damage. Young did not pay for this damage before vacating the apartment. Weaver managed to rent the apartment to someone else in June 2002. Weaver filed a claim against Young in Small Claims, seeking damages for the unpaid rent and the damage done by Young's dog to the apartment. The court ruled in favor of Weaver and awarded $1,370 in damages. Young appealed the decision to the Tuscaloosa Circuit Court, which tried the case and also entered a judgment in favor of Weaver and awarded him $1,095, the amount of Young's share of the unpaid rent for December 2001 and January and February 2002, as well as the $270 in damage caused by Young's dog. Young appealed. How did the appellate court rule?