BG Legal: Suing a store for negligence?

[Anoat]

Here's the story, no giggling please: after a night of drinking at the bar, myself, a friend of mine, and my roommate (who is a lady) decided to go visit the local 24 hour porn shop for shits and giggles. The roommate had not been drinking, so she was driving my truck, and had my keys in her purse. When you walk into the store they require you to leave your purse behind the counter to prevent shoplifting, so it was left with a store clerk behind the counter. While we were shopping, some scumbag asshole came up and claimed the purse belonged to his wife, and the store clerk gave it to them, and off they went.

Things that were in the purse: my set of keys (my vehicle, my work, my house key, my mail key), my roommate's keys (her vehicle, our house, her mail key), her Blackberry Touch phone, a first generation iPad, misc. girly stuff like makeup, and her check book. Luckily she had her wallet in hand so she did not lose her driver's license or credit cards or cash.

The aftermath: We called the cops and they came and filed a report, my roommate listed the value of the items that were stolen. The store clerk was able to give a description of the guy who took it. The store has security cameras inside and outside, but she wasn't able to access the office because only the store manager can do that, and CONVENIENTLY he is out of town until Monday, and thus far all attempts to reach him have failed. The cops said they would come back on Monday to enter the security footage into evidence and hopefully get a look at the license plate of his vehicle, but at this point there is not much that they could do. Both of us have spare keys to our vehicles but now we have to purchase new ones, which are fairly expensive.

Things I am concerned about: I'm not sure what kind of security system this store has, but I have worked in retail before and if those security tapes are not changed daily (and they wouldn't be if the manager is out of town, according to the clerks), then either its not recording or its recording over previous content every 24 hours, in which case we would be fucked because we would lose the footage of this scum bag by the time the manager is reached. Also, my roommate's purse contained her business card which listed our home address. This combined with this scumbag now having both our vehicle and house keys led to me sitting in our living room with a gun all night waiting to see if he came by to break in. We are getting the locks changed on the house ASAP. My roommate has already contacted Verizon to stop service on her phone. We have tried to get in touch with Apple about the iPad but we are not having much luck. She actually just got this iPad two days ago as a replacement for her old broken one, and had not yet set up the "Wheres my iPad" app thingy. She doesn't have the serial number or anything for this new one. However, the iPad was locked with a security code and iirc on iPads and iPhones if you enter the wrong code ten times it locks you out permanently until someone from Apple undoes it? My roommate is also concerned about her missing check book and is hesitant to freeze her account because she was in the process of applying for a loan to buy a house, and she is afraid this would ruin her chances of getting the loan approved. I told her she should at least contact her bank and realtor and let them know the situation, but I am not sure if she has done this yet.

Now that you have the story, here's the question pertaining to the topic: Replacing all this stuff like her phone, iPad, new keys, new locks is going to be pretty expensive. With a police report listing the value of items and receipts, would we have any kind of case to sue the shop for reimbursement of items since it was their negligence which led to her purse being stolen? I don't have any lawyer friends or anything like that to consult, was wondering if it would be worth the cost in legal fees and such to pursue this. Thanks for any help you can provide, and I will come back to update this as more develops.

[Masenko]

You should know better than to post this here without pics of your roommate.

[Kuya]

You should know better than to post this here without pics of your roommate.

You're an idiot.

OP, i'm going to email this to my law professor and hopefully he'll answer soon.

[Odon]

Sounds like the guy working there was obviously in on it

[richardd]

i worked at hollywood video when i was a kid, and we had a similar problem that took place. one of the co-workers left her purse on the counter of the bin where people drop movies off. she was a pothead, and pretty stupid, but obviously one thing led to another and her purse got stolen, most likely from a customer than one of the employees. She contacted our old manager and gave him a report at which point he contacted HIS manager and filed a report back. she received a call from the company to verify how/when it was stolen. its funny because, our duties were to change the VHS security tapes every night before the shift ended, but ironically, the company told her that the surveillance doesnt work and that they use "company surveillance" i didnt believe it. we put in the tape, and saw nothing but a blank screen. they were unable to pull up anything about the purse and instead reimbursed her for her keys, and whatever else she had missing.

so i really dont know how that's going to differ from your situation. i think you did the right thing when you filed the report. i just hope you get that guy who stole it. or wrongfully claimed it...

[jmc]

If the store is good, they could treat it as a larceny and the stores insurance could cover the cost of the stolen items.

Just wait until you speak to the manager, and see what he says. Don't go in threatening a lawsuit, otherwise im sure the manager would just push you off to HQ instead of helping you.


............... also, I hope you will be able to get a plate description or a mv description. If you get that, the detective can have the verizon phone pinged and get a radius of where the person is.

(pending it wasn't sold)

[Cream Soda]

Shouldn't have been practicing asphyxiation in a warzone

[Corrderio]

Would you happen to have any ideas on how long the purse was with the clerk or how long you were in the store? Since I do need to agree with Odon about the guy, seems odd he'd forget who owned the purse unless you were in there for hours or if it had a lot of people coming in and out.

[Atreides]

doesn't apple have some service where they can track the location of your device?

[Headspace]

doesn't apple have some service where they can track the location of your device?

She doesn't know the serial he said.

J-BRUCE

[Mertron]

what'd ya buy

[Cayos]

Wouldn't the store you bought the Ipad at be able to supply the serial number?

[hey]

He said in the OP she didn't set up the app to do that. Unless they can track it without that?

[*Shinzon*]

It's an interesting question, I imagine that you might be able to sue either the store or the individual for damages, the cost of having your shit changed and maybe you could work emotional distress out there for some extra cash lol. If you have time, why not call a local lawyer? Maybe you can find one that works weekends, and this is the type of question they might be able to answer in 10 minutes. Also, could you call the phone company and have them run a trace on the blackberry instead of the ipad? If you report the phone stolen and it's still on, hopefully, they might be able to ping it off a cell tower for a location should it be used. I dunno if it works while its not in use, maybe a GPS fix? I think you should call and ask.

[Gredival]

What state do you live in? Need to know precedent for torts in the state.

[Kwijiboe]

Hmm, this is somewhat complicated.

What are you suing them for? If you're suing them for negligence you are suing them for not meeting the standard of care required by the law. So, then, what is the standard of care a shop owner owes to a customer in this situation?

The shop likely doesn't "REQUIRE" purses/bags to be put on the front counter, they're just not allowed inside the store-- You could have left them in your vehicle or decided not to enter the shop. You should never trust a complete stranger with your possessions.

However, if you are going to make a case, of course you need to look up state law and precedent, but I don't think it is necessary here. My opinion is that the clerk did not hold a duty towards the customer to make sure the possessions weren't stolen by some scumbag. I mean, think about it...What could the clerk have done differently? Should s/he look inside the purse for an ID to match it with the customer? Or quiz the customer on the contents of the bag? I don't think what the clerk did was unreasonable. The kink in the chain here is that a scumbag customer lied to the clerk. So should the store be responsible? I'm not so sure.

Lastly, no matter what anyone here on BG says, contact an attorney in your area if you feel it is important enough to you. I'm only a 2nd year law student, so what do I know? But I do know that opinions will vary, this is just mine.

[Cream Soda]

Reminds me of the time I went to the dollar store w/ my back pack after school and they told me to leave it at the front. I'm like I have my laptop in here, and they're like it'll be fine there. I walked out of the store and bought candy at the other store on my way home.

[kyod]

I'm actually surprised the store didn't have a ticket/chip system. Most of the stores where they don't let you take your bag inside give you a ticket/chip with a different image on it and place the same ticket/chip on top of your bag behind the counter. You get your bag back when you provide the same ticket/chip. All of the hipster/porn/weird stores in Chicago did that.

[Kwijiboe]

I'm actually surprised the store didn't have a ticket/chip system. Most of the stores where they don't let you take your bag inside give you a ticket/chip with a different image on it and place the same ticket/chip on top of your bag behind the counter. You get your bag back when you provide the same ticket/chip. All of the hipster/porn/weird stores in Chicago did that.

It makes sense that Chicago stores do that. They have high rates of store theft. Even so, that ticket/chip system goes well beyond the clerk's duty (standard of care) owed to a customer. Even if a customer's belongings went missing, I don't they'd think those merchants would be liable either. Why? Because the standard is set by the law and not by store policy.

[Galkaeater]

If your taking peoples stuff what other duty do you have other than making sure the right owner gets it back
but yeah that sounds like the typical BS where they say they take no responsibiltiy for anything under their care