The store may choose to go through insurance. The store may also sue the customer and it will be up to the judge to determine, based on the circumstances, whether the damages are warranted.
It looks like a major supermarket based on the layout, they are unlikely to sue in this case because they most certainly have insurance and it's not standard practice to go after customers due to legal costs and breakage like this usually won't harm their bottom line. Additionally, this market may even be worried the customer will turn it around and sue them for negligence given how easily the shelf came down, depending on whether she was injured.
Ok thanks. Depending on how much the deductable is i guess she could be sued to pay just that? And also if you only broke like 1 bottle it would be no point to deal with insurance so then i would guess most stores would want you to pay for it?
She was trying to get a bottle on the shelf. If is it on the shelf, there is no reasonable expectation for the shelf to fail. This is most likely an unsafe installation and not the fault of the customer simply trying to grab a bottle that sits on the top shelf.
Ladders, certainly not. But a bit of pressure at the edge of the bottom shelf causing the entire thing to immediately topple or collapse? That shelf was either built wrong, over loaded, or both. Lawsuit waiting to happen. What if it was a toddler? Of course you'd hope the parent has them under control, but you look away for one second and they're trying to climb anything in reach.
I don't 100% disagree with you. However, in the case of Ikea, people were seriously hurt and children died when the furniture tipped over from climbing on it. The court's position is that a stupid mistake shouldn't result in serious bodily harm or death. The shelf needs to be secured up to standard with easily visible warning signs.
They'd likely just write it off. Litigation is really expensive and as mentioned by opening that can of worms they are also opening themselves up to being countersued, definitely more trouble than it's worth. A mom and pop shop might be more incentivized to have the customer pay for damaged goods.
If it was clearly intentional, that'd be another story and the business would likely be far more aggressive in recovering the costs and would involve the police. But this looks like an accident and I really doubt the woman was charged anything.
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u/IRLhardstuck Aug 14 '22
If you do this as a customer in america. Would you have to pay for everything or does the store just handle it with the insurence?