Teenage Pranks Egg On Hefty Lawsuit

The Dayton family, descendants of the founders of Target retailers, has filed a lawsuit in Minnesota claiming at least three teenagers waged an enduring campaign of vandalism on their Minneapolis-area home.

The plaintiffs, David and Vanessa Dayton, and their 18-year-old son Caleb, claim the destruction began in fall 2007 when Caleb transferred from a prestigious private high school to a rival private school, the New York Times reports. The family says the house would frequently be dressed in toilet paper, bombarded with eggs, and be the recipient of smashed pumpkins, human waste and discarded tampons.

During one egging incident on June 2, 2008, Caleb's graduation day, a store security camera captured three teenagers buying eggs and talking on a telephone from which a derisive call to the Daytons was traced.

The family used the tape to name three defendants in their lawsuit. One, Kelsey Hughes, admitted to her lawyer that she threw eggs, but says she was never involved in past incidents.

The lawsuit seeks $4,112 in damage done to their stucco siding and windows, and more than $50,000 in emotional damage to each of the three family members. The Daytons claim experiencing "substantial nervousness, anxiety, humiliation, apprehension, indignity and sleep disturbance."

Mr. Dayton is the son of Douglas J. Dayton, who helped open the first Target store in the 1960s.