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are businesses responisible for their shopping carts.

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goldilocks_g

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas
My car was attacked by shopping carts in a freak storm that lasted for about 20 minutes. Shopping carts were flying all over the parking lot at a rather large popular store in town. My car was scraped up and down both sides and obtained many dents and dings down each side. My mirors were knocked off and hanging by the wires? I filed a claim before leaving but i am wondering if the company processing the claim will l find that the store is liable? Has this ever happened to anyone?
 


justalayman

justalayman

Senior Member
so, you are saying a freak occurrence of nature actually caused the carts to be thrown into your car.

the store is not liable for acts of God (nature)
 
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goldilocks_g

Junior Member
it was a sudden rainstorm with signifigant wind. Their baskets were all over the parking lot? so there not responsible for their property?
 
Zigner

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
goldilocks_g said:
it was a sudden rainstorm with signifigant wind. Their baskets were all over the parking lot? so there not responsible for their property?
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This is an act of God. Sue the person responsible...but you'll need to find a way to get the process server through the pearly gates!
 
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marshalAK

Member
goldilocks_g said:
it was a sudden rainstorm with signifigant wind. Their baskets were all over the parking lot? so there not responsible for their property?
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Plenty of stores have shopping carts all over their parking lot. Been to Wal-Mart lately? Shopping carts generally don't group together and attack cars unless there's an act of God or an especially interesting B-movie.

File with your insurance company. This would most likely be considered a comprehensive claim and you ought to be able to get it fixed.

And yes, this has happened to me. Not with shopping carts - but hit by a washing machine going down the interstate. It flew out of the back of a pickup truck and become a temporary missile. It was covered under comprehensive and everything got repaired after an entertaining phone call to Aetna.
 
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JustAPal00

Senior Member
marshalAK said:
Plenty of stores have shopping carts all over their parking lot. Been to Wal-Mart lately? Shopping carts generally don't group together and attack cars unless there's an act of God or an especially interesting B-movie.

File with your insurance company. This would most likely be considered a comprehensive claim and you ought to be able to get it fixed.

And yes, this has happened to me. Not with shopping carts - but hit by a washing machine going down the interstate. It flew out of the back of a pickup truck and become a temporary missile. It was covered under comprehensive and everything got repaired after an entertaining phone call to Aetna.
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WOW, your story beats mine. I've been hit by a bakers rack that fell out of a truck on the interstate and a piece of siding that blew off of a mobile home being towed the opposite direction on the same interstate. The bakers rack was at 80mph and bounced off the drivers side as I swerved. The siding was across my windshield but did very little damage!
 
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Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
Damn; don't you hate it when those shopping carts all get together and attack cars?

Just about every store I've ever shopped in that has shopping carts has a statement saying they're not responsible for any damage done by these carts.

This is to protect the store from idiot shoppers who, when they get done loading their cars, simply turn these loose to roll all over the parking lot.

Gail
 
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marshalAK

Member
JustAPal00 said:
WOW, your story beats mine. I've been hit by a bakers rack that fell out of a truck on the interstate and a piece of siding that blew off of a mobile home being towed the opposite direction on the same interstate. The bakers rack was at 80mph and bounced off the drivers side as I swerved. The siding was across my windshield but did very little damage!
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LOL well you win for sheer number of Unlikely Missiles! Honestly the phone call to Aetna with the washing machine incident was the highlight of my day. The poor customer service rep didn't know what to make of it.

Best question: "Um...ok. Now...this is going to sound weird...but did the washing machine fly out and hit you directly? Or did it hit the ground...and you hit it."

One was comprehensive (direct hit from the sky) and other was collision (non-avoidance of bouncing washer).
 
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RRevak

Senior Member
Gail in Georgia said:
Damn; don't you hate it when those shopping carts all get together and attack cars?

Just about every store I've ever shopped in that has shopping carts has a statement saying they're not responsible for any damage done by these carts.

This is to protect the store from idiot shoppers who, when they get done loading their cars, simply turn these loose to roll all over the parking lot.

Gail
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Its like that show..only with shopping carts!

"When shopping carts attack"!

:D :D :D
 
D

davew128

Senior Member
Zigner said:
This is an act of God. Sue the person responsible...but you'll need to find a way to get the process server through the pearly gates!
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I seem to recall that a suit against God survived summary judgment on an episode of Boston Legal. ;)
 
K

Knowitall321

Member
goldilocks_g said:
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas
My car was attacked by shopping carts in a freak storm that lasted for about 20 minutes. Shopping carts were flying all over the parking lot at a rather large popular store in town. My car was scraped up and down both sides and obtained many dents and dings down each side. My mirors were knocked off and hanging by the wires? I filed a claim before leaving but i am wondering if the company processing the claim will l find that the store is liable? Has this ever happened to anyone?
Click to expand...
Company is liable; they have a duty to corral up these carts because wind happens. Oh, I did not drop that piano on my wife; it was an act of god called gravity. You can file a claim with the store & if not happy, small claims. There is a reason why cart owners have to put their names on the carts. Just for this situation.
 
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ecmst12

Senior Member
Apparently "knowitall" knows nothing, the company has NO such duty and even if they did, there's no evidence that the carts hadn't been corralled and still got blown out by the windstorm.

This is a comp claim and the store has no liability here.
 
justalayman

justalayman

Senior Member
ecmst12 said:
Apparently "knowitall" knows nothing, the company has NO such duty and even if they did, there's no evidence that the carts hadn't been corralled and still got blown out by the windstorm.

This is a comp claim and the store has no liability here.
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while I, personally (and you all know I don't simply argue for the sake of argument), might consider a suit if this was not an extreme weather condition and the store habitually failed to corral the carts BUT since this involves extreme weather the store people had no way to guard against, this is one for the car owners insurance.


I suppose knowitall would believe if it was a tornado, there would even still be a valid claim against the store.. What about a hurricane and the cart traveled 5 miles down the road and damaged a car? Is the store still liable knowitall?
 
M

marshalAK

Member
justalayman said:
while I, personally (and you all know I don't simply argue for the sake of argument), might consider a suit if this was not an extreme weather condition and the store habitually failed to corral the carts BUT since this involves extreme weather the store people had no way to guard against, this is one for the car owners insurance.


I suppose knowitall would believe if it was a tornado, there would even still be a valid claim against the store.. What about a hurricane and the cart traveled 5 miles down the road and damaged a car? Is the store still liable knowitall?
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Precisely, JAL. Friends of mine had a yacht that made it all the way to a Publix 4 miles inland during a hurricane. That got filed under a S*** Happens clause.

Knowitall - they have their names on the carts so people don't steal them! Those things ain't cheap and the store provides them for the convenience of the customers. Not so that we can all run around and assign blame when there's none to be had.
 
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