What are my rights if I moved my furniture into a storage unit but when I came to get my property it was gone?
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What are my rights if I moved my furniture into a storage unit but when I came to get my property it was gone?
The storage didn’t offered insurance but they told me that someone is on the property 24/7, plus they had cameras around the property. It had been almost 3 months and no one has contacted me. I have a police report and I sent the manager the things that got stolen from me. She asked me to give her 30 days to see what the owners would say about the situation. Do I have the right to take the property and owners to court about my furniture?
Asked on January 27, 2016 under Business Law, Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
You always have the right to file a lawsuit. Whether you win will depend on whether they were at fault in some way. If you can show that their security was less than advertised (i.e. they lied) and/or less than is standard at such facilities, or that one of their employees collaborated in the theft, you can win. But if you can't show fault, they would not be liable unless there was a guaranty or warranty that they would take responsibility for any losses or thefts. Without such a guaranty/warranty, they are only responsible if at fault, and the fact that your furniture was stolen while on their site does not, by itself, prove fault; for example, the theft could have been done by another client/customer who was lawfully on the property (which is how he/she got "past" security), and the facility is not responsible for what people not under its control do. Or the theft could have been done by any outside, but if the security was industry standard and was as advertised and the thief simply managed to bypass it, the facility is not liable--they are not held to the standard of perfect security, but only have to provide reasonable security for such a facility.
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