Allen v. Hyatt Regency-Nashville Hotel

668 S.W.2d 286 (1984)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Allen parked his wife's (P) car in a parking garage owned by the Hyatt Regency (D). Although Allen did not intend to register as a guest at the hotel, the parking garage was open to the public. In order to get into the garage, Allen received a ticket which was solely for the purpose of recording the amount of time spent in the lot. The back of the ticket recited that it was to be presented to the cashier upon leaving the garage and that D assumed no responsibility for loss due to fire, theft, or collision. However, D employed security guards whose duties included patrolling the parking garage. When Allen returned to the garage, the car had been stolen. Allen notified a security guard, who told him that he had received a report that someone may have been tampering with a car in the garage. The guard told Allen that he had investigated, but found nothing suspicious. P sued. Both lower courts found that a bailment had been created when Allen parked the car in D's garage and held D liable for the theft of the car