Who is liable for car theft from a hotel parking lot? A lesson for the service industry

The Supreme Court of India, recently decided on a contentious matter of a hotel guests’ car being stolen from the premises of the hotel. The guest and the insurance company (with whom he had insured his car), filed a consumer complaint against the hotel for deficiency in service. The Supreme Court’s decision regarding liability of hotels in respect of theft of a guest’s car. Noting that the failure of a hotel to return a guest’s car strikes at the root of the bailment relationship between the hotel and the guest, the Supreme Court observed that such an incident implies a prima facie case of negligence.

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