时间:2018-12-30 作者:英语课 分类:法律英语 Legal Lad


英语课

by Michael W. Flynn

 

First, a disclaimer: Although I am an attorney, the legal information in this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for seeking personalized legal advice from an attorney licensed 1 to practice in your jurisdiction 2. Further, I do not intend to create an attorney-client relationship with any listener.   

 

Many of us have left our cars in parking garages, and expect our cars to be there, and in the same condition, when we return. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Adam from California wrote:

 

In California, whenever you use valet parking, on the back of your parking slip there is a notice that the valet company is not responsible for any damage to your car. If the valet scratches or damages the car while parking it, how can they not be held responsible?

 

Adam’s question has two parts. First, whether the disclaimer has any effect generally, and second, assuming the disclaimer has an effect, does the disclaimer operate to insulate the company from the acts of its own employees? The answers vary widely from state to state, and depending on other circumstances.

 

In some states, including Alabama, California, and Louisiana, courts have held that a preprinted ticket that includes an express waiver of liability can give sufficient notice to the customer that the parking lot was not taking responsibility for damage. So, those courts held, in some circumstances, that the parking garage was not liable for damages caused by third parties to the car while the car was parked in the garage or lot.

 

In some cases, courts have held that the waiver of liability does not apply where the customer did not see the waiver. For example, if the waiver is listed on a sign in the garage, but the customer did not see it, or would not normally pass the sign before leaving the garage, then the waiver does not work.

 

Other courts will only allow the waiver of liability to work where you do not give your car to an employee of the garage. So, if you get a preprinted ticket from a machine with a waiver, park the car yourself, and take the keys with you, then the garage is not responsible for damages. Only where you actually give the car to an attendant, and the attendant parks the car for you and keeps the keys, will some courts void the waiver of liability.

 

However, in most states, including New York and Ohio, courts reviewing parking tickets have held generally that these broad waivers of liability are void as against public policy. The courts reasoned that a parking garage acts as a professional bailer 4, and cannot waive 3 its duties even where it expressly tells the customer that it is doing so. That is, a business whose manifest function is to care for cars cannot absolve 5 itself of liability for performing that function in a manner that causes damages to vehicles. Ohio courts are outspoken 6 in their criticism for these bald attempts to shift the burden to care for a car back onto the consumer. In these states, the waivers of liability have no effect.

 

Turning to Adam’s second question, customers are in luck. Even in states where the waiver of liability has an effect, those states generally agree that the waiver does not apply to damages to the car caused by the intentional 7 or negligent 8 actions of the garage employees. The law generally does not allow you to waive liability for damages caused by your own negligence 9. If this were possible, then every business could just post a generic 10 waiver of liability for everything they do, and customers would never have any recourse. Courts have universally held that such a scheme cannot really work, and customers need protection.   

 

Reading all these authorities together, you are better off taking public transportation or walking in cities where you feasibly can – it avoids the problem altogether. See you on the bus!

 

Thank you for listening to Legal Lad’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful 11 Life. Be sure to check out all the excellent Quick and Dirty Tips podcasts at QuickAndDirtyTips.com and don't forget to take the short listener survey by clicking on the green 5 to the right of the transcript 12.

 

You can send questions and comments to..........or call them in to the voicemail line at 206-202-4LAW. Please note that doing so will not create an attorney-client relationship and will be used for the purposes of this podcast only.

 

Legal Lad's theme music is "No Good Layabout" by Kevin MacLeod



adj.得到许可的v.许可,颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)
  • The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
  • Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗?
n.司法权,审判权,管辖权,控制权
  • It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
  • Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。
vt.放弃,不坚持(规定、要求、权力等)
  • I'll record to our habitat office waive our claim immediately.我立即写信给咱们的总公司提出放弃索赔。
  • In view of the unusual circumstances,they agree to waive their requirement.鉴于特殊情况,他们同意放弃他们的要求。
汲出积水的人,水斗; 水瓢; 水勺
  • In high speed offset printing, unstable performance of bailer adverse effect on the quality of presswork. 在高速胶印生产中,水斗液的性能不稳定对印刷品的质量产生不良影响。
v.赦免,解除(责任等)
  • I absolve you,on the ground of invincible ignorance.鉴于你不可救药的无知,我原谅你。
  • They agree to absolve you from your obligation.他们同意免除你的责任。
adj.直言无讳的,坦率的,坦白无隐的
  • He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
  • She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。
adj.故意的,有意(识)的
  • Let me assure you that it was not intentional.我向你保证那不是故意的。
  • His insult was intentional.他的侮辱是有意的。
adj.疏忽的;玩忽的;粗心大意的
  • The committee heard that he had been negligent in his duty.委员会听说他玩忽职守。
  • If the government is proved negligent,compensation will be payable.如果证明是政府的疏忽,就应支付赔偿。
n.疏忽,玩忽,粗心大意
  • They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
  • The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。
adj.一般的,普通的,共有的
  • I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服,不买名牌。
  • The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的
  • It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
  • We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书
  • A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
  • They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。
学英语单词
afoords
aristoloside
audio technology
auditing around the computer
automatic block installation
b. suprapatellaris
Bangued
Bislama
blast amount meter
blepharomelasma
Bukit Timah
car roof
cascaron
charging dynamo
cluster radioactivity
common trust fund
Coningham
Cotoneaster divaricatus
currejong
customer's ledger
desterilizing gold
diagravitropism
diphenhydramines
double work time
Draba jucunda
echo power
electric cooker range
eolian placer
experimental psychopathology
final registration
flat compounding
floating-point radix
formed height of un-loaded single disc
Futures option
gesto
glucosamine-6-phosphate
healthcare facilities
heavy pumping
henrey
high level job control language
idionodal rhythm
in breeding program
inflammable compressed gases
inserted fraise
instrumentalis
iodoxy-
iridium(iv) hydroxide
jaunting cars
jet method
kentel
leafen
locking frequency
marback
monolithic patch
myxofibrcmata
notaire
notch filter
notch grinder
obliger
oil red
olfactic
oral gangrene
orderly market
Oxon.
palladium(ii) palladium(iv) sulfide
patch reef
periodic discharge
phase of folding
phytophily
picture string character
plant mulching
Point Samson
Police Navidad
potassium metamolybdate
preembargo price
raggery
remontant
reticulate duct
rotation perception
runaway star
salmon peel
second brief
set-up-scale meter
shahanshahs
sheared diagram
sinocythere yowdyi
some such
sownder
spacecraft material
spring conjunctivitis
steel heald
suck lemons
table roll
tapping voltage
tartre
tone signal
ungrandiloquent
unrelevant
win eminence
wish sb success
Zenadrex