Legal Question in Civil Litigation in North Carolina
Bank's responsibility for broken window from their tree
I was backed into my bank's parking lot. The car in front of me was backing out and I moved slowly in reverse to keep her from hitting me. The trees in the bank's parking lot are only 6 inches from the curb. I drive a Suburban. The tree crunched my window before my tires even got to the curb. Can the bank not be held responsible??
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Bank's responsibility for broken window from their tree
Generally speaking, the bank can probably not be held liable, because it's not clear that the bank was "negligent," and they will argue that you were "negligent." Unless you can overcome both of these hurdles, you could legally win. I must add, however, that I represented a party who was sued in a similar case, in which a driver backed into a device in a parking garage. To my amazement, he won in small claims court. I tend to think, however, that this result was aberrational.