too much trust

[plourdem]

Washington DC

My friend left a package for me at her secure 24 hour desk at her apartment building. They redily accepted teh package and have dones so in the past. They have no signs stating nor did they state that they could not be responsible or she would never have left teh package there. The package contained over $10,000 worth of jewelery. When I went to pick it up it was gone. The secure desk only is accessed by a certain number of employees, no one else has keys or permission to go back there. The manager was not cooperating, so we called the police in. The officer said it was an inside job, and he would question people but there was not much he could do about it. Can i sue the apartment (or at least bring them to small claims court)? Should their insurance cover this kind of thing, because they readily accepted tihs responsibility?

 

[loku]

Missing package

If the building has a policy of holding packages for tenants and has no notice that limits their liability, they have a duty of ordinary care in guarding the packages. The fact that the package disappeared is not conclusive proof that they breached that duty, but it certainly raises the question, so there is a possiblity that you could win a suit agains them. However, even if you win the suit, you would have to prove the value of the package. Your testimony and your friends is evidence, but not conclusive. There is one more problem: the limit on Small Claims in DC is $5,000.

So you have a choice: go to Small Claims and give it a try for $5,000, or have a DC lawyer evaluate your chances in a law suit.