Legal Question in Criminal Law in California
hello, im a california realtor, a bank who ownes a property directly south of mine (reo) hired a field service/clean up co. to clean up their property. That clean up co. broke into a storage container on my property. I filed a police report, they issued a search warrant, detectives found some of my property in their home. Can I file a law suit against them and the bank??
3 Answers from Attorneys
This is not a criminal law question, lawsuits are civil. You may want to repost. Criminal law, btw, is help for people facing criminal charges.
Mr. Fleetwood is right, but I'll answer your question anyway.
If you can show that the clean-up company is responsible for the break-in and theft, then you should be able to sue them successfully. But that's a pretty big "if". You would have to prove that the employees who did it were acting within the course and scope of their duties at the time. Maybe they were. But it's far from certain. If they weren't, then the individual employees would still be liable but the company wouldn't.
Either way, it's hard to believe the bank would be liable. I can imagine reasons why it could be, but they're a bit far-fetched.
Finally, you need to ask yourself whether suing would make economic sense. Lawsuits are expensive, and they take time and energy. How much property did you lose? How badly was your container damaged? What other losses did you foreseeably suffer as a result? Do the defendants have enough assets to pay any judgment that you might win? You may very well have a case that is worth bringing, but you should figure that out before you sue rather than after.
Good luck.
You could sue the clean up company, but would have trouble suing the bank unless you could prove they knew the clean up company would break in, which I doubt you could ever prove.
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