Can a business make me pay?

[skimmilk]

Hi... I'm in California. I need some legal advice. While shopping for a motorcycle at a cycle store, I accidentally knocked over a motorcycle into another one. The damages are little scratches to each motorcycle. Here's what happened... I was checking to feel the riding position on different motorcyles (which the business allows). On the last cycle I tried, I slipped on a kickstand pad for the cycle next to the one I was trying (the kickstand pad is an elevated pad used to protect the floor for scratches by motorcyle kickstands). Due to the slip on the pad, the bike I was on slowly leaned too far into the bike next to me and that bike leaned over to the bike next to it. The end result were scratches only (not dents). The business manager told me that I would have to pay to replace all the scratched parts which could equal thousands of dollars. Can they legally make me do that? I'm sure that this is a common occurance and that they should be insured for things like this. I need help!

Thank you,

Sean

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

In California, unless the incident was due to "malice" (purposefully done), the store cannot hold you liable for damages caused by their display of merchandise. You are correct, their insurance is on the hook, not you.

IAAL