Please forgive me if this is not posted in the correct forum.
After shopping at a supermarket, I returned my cart to the corral for shopping carts located on the sidewalk in front of the store. There were several scattered shopping carts blocking the entrance to the actual corral, so I left my cart with all the others and walked away. I did not see this actually happen as I had already walked away and was almost back to my car, but a man and his wife parked in the handicapped space (which is located directly in front of the corral) claimed that the cart that I put back rolled down the ramp and hit his car leaving a scratch. I'm certain that the cart that I returned was stationary when I left it. I wouldn't have walked away from it otherwise. It was a windy day and several people were passing back and forth. I'm not even 100% convinced that it was actually my cart as there were several scattered about the area. Plus, the cart that I saw against his car was facing the wrong direction, imo. (If it had been my cart that rolled, I think it's logical that the back- {the handle bar part of the cart} should have been the part to come in contact with his car, not the front of the cart.)
The man and his wife claim that it was my cart and since I did not make sure that it was put back properly inside the corral, I am responsible. I did file an incident report with the store but he is threatening to take me to small claims court to have his car fixed. He doesn't want to go through insurance or pursue it through the store. He wants me to pay for it. The damage is in the $300 range.
Who would be responsible for the damage in a case like this? Do I have a chance of prevailing in small claims court? Thanks in advance.
After shopping at a supermarket, I returned my cart to the corral for shopping carts located on the sidewalk in front of the store. There were several scattered shopping carts blocking the entrance to the actual corral, so I left my cart with all the others and walked away. I did not see this actually happen as I had already walked away and was almost back to my car, but a man and his wife parked in the handicapped space (which is located directly in front of the corral) claimed that the cart that I put back rolled down the ramp and hit his car leaving a scratch. I'm certain that the cart that I returned was stationary when I left it. I wouldn't have walked away from it otherwise. It was a windy day and several people were passing back and forth. I'm not even 100% convinced that it was actually my cart as there were several scattered about the area. Plus, the cart that I saw against his car was facing the wrong direction, imo. (If it had been my cart that rolled, I think it's logical that the back- {the handle bar part of the cart} should have been the part to come in contact with his car, not the front of the cart.)
The man and his wife claim that it was my cart and since I did not make sure that it was put back properly inside the corral, I am responsible. I did file an incident report with the store but he is threatening to take me to small claims court to have his car fixed. He doesn't want to go through insurance or pursue it through the store. He wants me to pay for it. The damage is in the $300 range.
Who would be responsible for the damage in a case like this? Do I have a chance of prevailing in small claims court? Thanks in advance.
