Could the person who put the defective item out by the trash be sued if someone picked it up, tried to use it, then got hurt?
I was dropping off some stuff at Goodwill. Among my items was a stroller. I happened to notice the sign on the door that said strollers were among the things that they could not accept. I found that odd, then realized that if they sold it and there was something wrong with the stroller, and a kid got hurt, Goodwill could be liable.
As far as I know, there is nothing wrong with the stroller, my daughter just didn’t need it any more. But then I thought, “What if I put the stroller out by my trash at home and somebody spied it, picked it up, took it home and used it and a kid got hurt, could they sue me?”
I wondered what the situation would be if I put it out on the curb, obviously for someone to pick up for free, even if, to the best of my knowledge, it was a perfectly good stroller, but some kid got hurt.
Thoughts?
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8 Answers
No, you would absolutely not get in trouble. It was in the trash!
But what about the 2nd half of my question….what if I put it out on the curb for someone to pick up, believing that it was a perfectly good stroller?
Someone as in a specific person? Or just put it out by the curb with a “free” sign on it and let whoever wanted it have it?
Either way, I seriously doubt a judge would have much to say about it, even if they did try to sue. If I give away a stroller to a friend and it’s broken, I wouldn’t be liable for that. It was free – you get what you pay for, and if you get something used you take the risk of it being broken/defective. Fact of life.
I don’t see how the homeowner could have any liability. Take the following scenario:
I, the homeowner, put a half gallon of old, spoiled milk in the trash. (of course, I could have poured it down the sink, but that’s not the issue)
Thirsty Tommy, the trash stalker, walks down the street and sees that there’s a half-gallon of milk – maybe still cold – sitting waiting for the trash collector. So he opens it up and drinks it, oblivious to the bad taste and smell. The rotten milk sickens him, and he dies.
How can that possibly be the homeowner’s fault?
I agree, but thinking like a lawyer (or trying to,) the person knowingly and deliberately put a “poisonous foodstuffs” in the trash, thereby making it available to hungry or thirsty individuals. What if it had been a child?
It’s an interesting question. I don’t know the legality. But I do recall being advised to damage expired car seats and drop-side cribs (now illegal) before disposing of them so that no one else can use them.
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