There's a legal obligation?
No. As you say, unless you use the trolley as a weapon, how the fuck could you be held responsible? There is no law that you have to put your trolley in the corral so how can you be held legally responsible? It comes back to bad luck and 'shit happens.'
I'm a trolley returner but some of these defences seem a bit far fetched.
What if my trolley rolled into another trolley that hit a car?
Legal obligation as in liability for damages? Of course you can be held responsible.
If I put up a pop up shade tent and don't properly secure it, am I liable if it blows into my neighbors screen?
If I don't trim or care for a tree on my property, and it falls into my neighbors house, am I liable?
If I don't use my parking brake on an incline and my car rolls into another, am I liable?
What if you have your cart full of items, and while you were opening your trunk, the cart rolled into another car....are you liable? Is that just SHIT HAPPENS???
Of course you are. Most times, it isn't "SHIT HAPPENS"....it is that a person does not take due care to ensure their actions do not cause an accident or damage.
The point is not that there isn't a law requiring you to put the cart in the corral....the point is that you did have the clear option to properly secure the cart in the corral, and decided not to. That left the cart in a position to do potential damage...that was
your choice....not some bad luck, or the happening of shit.
That is what I don't understand. How can someone leave a cart unsecured, when they have a clear and easy option to secure it, and claim "shit happens" if their cart damages someone else's property? What happened to personal responsibility?
I read online:
"
There is a legal doctrine called "Res Ipsa Loquitur". You had exclusive control over the cart and the manner in which you park it. The doctrine allows a judge to infer that you were negligent based on the totality of the circumstances. The cart would not have hit the other car but-for your action (or inaction).
"
EDIT: Returning carts (to store or corral) for other reasons, such as convenience for other shoppers or store staff is, IMO, a nice thing to do....but I will not fault anyone for not doing it on that basis. The world would be a better place if we were all more considerate for sure, but that really isn't a Corral argument I am willing to die for LOL. But just brushing off the personal responsibility for damage to someone else's property as "eh, shit happens", or "not my problem", kind of rubs me the wrong way. I feel that we should know better.
--If you have the opportunity to secure your property, or item you just used, in a secure manner or location, and you choose not to, you are responsible if that item causes damage to someone else's property. Are their exceptions? I'm sure there are as there are a trillion different scenarios. I'm just a bit shocked at the lack of personal responsibility for one's own actions (or inaction). JMO I guess.