Shopping Cart Damage to Car

[napierm]

Hello,

While at an "Office Depot" in Atlanta, Georgia, I was moving a heavy box from the shopping cart to my trunk. When I looked up to get the now empty cart it had taken off down the slight incline of the parking lot. Because it was windy I didn't hear it move away.

It then struck the rear quarter panel of a 1998 BMW. The owner was in the parked car. Because of the wind and incline of the lot it produced a sizable dimple in the panel. After some discussion we exchanged phone numbers.

He called my auto insurance company who told him they would not pay for it. He got a quote from the BMW dealership in excess of $500 to fix it. This had to be the most expensive place to take it. He has a $500 deductable on his auto comprehensive and collision. Regardless, he wants me to pay for the full amount to fix it.

Am I liable? It was not my cart or my sloping parking lot and I surely didn't want to damage his car.

Any chance my home insurance would cover it?

Thanks in advance,

Mark

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

First, the easy answer. Your homeowner's insurance won't cover this type of incident. It is, in fact, a "collision" - - and one that didn't happen on your property.

Second, it doesn't matter that the cart "wasn't yours" or that the parking lot was "sloped". The issue is whether you had a duty to maintain control of the cart, considering the conditions; i.e., slope of parking lot and windy conditions, until such time as it was safe to relinquish the cart. It was reasonably foreseeable that under these conditions, and if you failed to maintain control, damages would have occurred. Therefore, under your fact pattern, the answer is, of course, yes you are responsible.

You are responsible because you were negligent; and that's because you had a duty to others, you breached that duty, and your breach caused someone to suffer damages. Since you were supposed to be in control of the cart until you were done with it, and you knew or should have known that the lot was "sloped," you could have put something under one of the wheels of the cart to keep it from rolling uncontrolled.

He has a right to have his car fixed wherever he feels comfortable with having repairs made. However, should this matter come before a judge, a single estimate is not going to work. He should, and you should require, at least 2 to 3 estimates. You would be responsible for the lowest estimate.

IAAL

 

[Hutchinson, Ken]

napierm, you are totally 100% at fault. I doubt you would be blaming the wind if the shoe was on the other foot. A $500 estimate to get his car fixed is fair. You can either give him the $500 or have him sue you in small claims court. You have no defense in this case. The judge will laugh at you if you start talking about the wind and a sloped parking lot.