Legal Question in Personal Injury in Virginia

Re: Shopping cart hit parked car

I would also check to see if you have a contract with the grocery store that says anything about this.

I would also try to find any witnesses you can, such as other workers.

This kind of thing is controlled by something called "negligence" which is a special legal theory. In other words, you did not INTENTIONALLY cause damage to her car. So the question is why should you (or anyone) pay? Did you do something wrong, such as act negligently to the point where the law says you did something wrong.

If the court believes that you were careless in putting the cart away... you should have known that what you did created a significant risk of damage in that way... then the law would say that you (or the grocery store) should pay for repairs.

OR... if the court believed at the end of a lawsuit that your actions were reasonable under the circumstances, but the grocery store was negligent in putting the shopping cart storage at the top of a hill with no barrier to prevent carts from rolling down hill then the grocery store would have to pay (and not you).

Any good lawyer would sue the grocery store, not you, unless perhaps the damage is very small, like under $2000, and they think you won't fight as hard as the grocery store's lawyer will fight. However, it is not impossible that the grocery store could turn around and ask you to pay them back (indemnify them) for the loss. On the third hand, however, this would almost certainly be paid by the store's insurance and that migth be the end of it. So wou may wait and have the lady sue the store. On the other hand, you have to ask how much you care about the job and how much the lady is asking for.

So, I think it is critically important exactly what you did, and whether there are any witnesses of exactly what you did. Were you negligent or not? Did you carefully put the cart back and do everything you could do? Or were you careless in putting the cart back to prevent it from rolling out? Was it reasonable in light of the car storage location? Is the problem with the spot for carts set up by the store? Will anyone who saw it say you were careless or negligent?

The posting of the sign may or may not prevent a lawsuit. Theoretically, it could be considered binding and prevent te lady from collecting. However, it is not really a contract but is only a sign and a court might ignore it.

Re: Shopping cart hit parked car

Even if you were negligent in parking the grocery cart, under the doctrine of respondeat superior (Let the master answer), your employer should be held liable for the damage as your actions in parking the cart were clearly carried out within the scope of your employment (and within the ordinary course of the employer's business).

"Pursuant to the doctrine of respondeat superior, an employer is liable for the tortious

acts of its employee if that employee was performing the employer's business and acting within the scope of the employment when the tortious acts were committed." (See Plummer v.

Center Psychiatrists, Ltd., 252 Va. 233, 235,

476 S.E.2d 172, 173 (1996).