Liable or not?

[cindyh26]

What liability does a business have to ensure the safety of it's customers against bodily injury or property damage while on the business' property?

 

[dee_dub]

What jurisdiction is this in? Local occupier's liability laws may vary. Generally, the business has to take reasonable care to ensure the safety of persons on its premises. Exactly what that entails depends on the circumstances.

 

[cindyh26]

The jurisdiction is Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The business in question is a metal recycling business that allows customers to offload large pieces of scrap metal onto rolling carts in the designated parking area for all customer vehicles. They also operate fork lifts in the area where customer vehicles are parked. They do not have directions posted for customers who may have large items to offload. They do not have any signs advising that an employee will help in a different designated area away from other customer's vehicles. Our vehicle was damaged by either a customer offloading a large item or by a fork lift driving in the area around our vehicle. Either way, we feel that the business owes a certain obligation to the customer to ensure the safety and protect a customer's property from damage.