Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

storage company employee(s) steals contents of storage unit

I rented a unit at a self-storage location in Los Angeles-I choose the largest self storage company in the country(not some random one in the yellow pages) the facility has 3 security gates all with security codes and I had a strong padlock on my unit...When I called to make a payment yesterday I was informed that 3 weeks ago they had found the doors to my storage unit wide open and all the contents were gone-they did not inform me or file a police/theft report they simply vacated the unit and re-rented it to another customer. I asked if any other units had been broken into or if there was evidence of the break-in they said no-I know they have excellent security there in terms of all the gates, etc and my unit was in the back of the building not near the front doors. I said well, it sounds like it was an inside job from an employee and she simply said well, you can file a claim with the company or file a police report. However, I am out of the state at the moment and the police informed me that I am not able to file a report except there in person. I dont understand how a large company that I paid to keep my things safe can take no resposiblity that suddenly the contents of my storage unit are completely gone--I recorded the conve


Asked on 6/15/09, 9:24 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

Re: storage company employee(s) steals contents of storage unit

I expect such a 'good' company has security cameras. You could subpeona and obtain the tapes, and so could the police if they cared to exert any effort on your behalf. The longer before demanding the tapes, the more likely they will have been overwritten or purged. You need them to determine and prove what happened, if they now/still exist, and if they covered your door. Your problem is that you aren't here to file the police report, although that's the first I've heard that you can't do it by mail and phone interview. You can certainly take civil action, filing suit, through an attorney here. You will have trouble proving what was in the unit unless you have good documentation, video, witnesses, etc. You can make an insurance claim on them with good documentation. I that doesn't work out, and if serious about pursuing this, if it is valuable enough to hire counsel, and if you can do the above things, feel free to contact me.

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Answered on 6/15/09, 9:57 pm


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