Who will be held responsible for an injury occurring after a vehicle has been stolen because of the negligent act of the owner leaving the keys in the car?

The Florida courts will typically let a jury decide if the negligent act of a person leaving keys in the car is actionable against the owner of the vehicle. More often than not, when the keys are left in the ignition and the car is stolen, if the vehicle is involved in injuring another person the owner of the vehicle will be held liable. F.S. 316.1975 states: “A person driving or in charge of any motor vehicle may not permit it to stand unattended without first stopping the engine, locking the ignition, and removing the key.” The exceptions to this are authorized emergency vehicles and licensed delivery vehicles.

However, it seems like Florida courts will allow a negligence action to go to the jury even if F.S. 316.1974 is not applicable. The leading case on leaving keys in the ignition switch of an unlocked car is Vining v. Avis Rent-A-Car Systems, Inc., 354 So.2d 54 (Fla. 1978). In this case, because the car was left running with the doors open and with they keys in the ignition in a high auto theft area when the car was stolen and involved in the accident, the court maintained that the case was able to proceed on negligence claim. What seems to be established from this case is that even where there is some intervening criminal act, this will not automatically cut off the liability of the owner of the vehicle for injury thereafter. So, if you are involved in a Palm Beach County car accident with the driver of a stolen vehicle, the owner of the vehicle may be held responsible for your injuries if either they breached their duty not to leave the keys in a vehicle’s ignition.

Sometimes, the key does not have to be in the ignition for the owner of the vehicle to be held liable for injuries resulting from theft of the vehicle. In Schwartz v. American Home Assurance Co., 360 So.2d 383 (Fla. 1978), the owner of the vehicle left the car parked, unattended, with the ignition key in the open glove box. The car was stolen, and shortly thereafter struck two pedestrians. The court said factually there was enough to proceed with the case as to whether a reasonable person would have foreseen the theft could have occurred and also the danger to the public after the theft.

The elapsed time between the vehicle being stolen and the injury occurring from the theft of the vehicle is an important factor in determining if the owner of the vehicle will be held liable. In Gmerek v. Rachlin, 390 So.2d 1230 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980), the owner left the car parked with the key in the ignition when the car was stolen and involved in an accident five and half months later. That court established that the liability of a person that has violated F.S. 316.1975 “must terminate at some time in the future”, because it is not reasonable and probable that an accident would occur five and a months later after the car was stolen. Therefore, the court did not establish a benchmark of the length of time that will be deemed too long, but it did establish that at some point owner of the vehicle will not responsible any longer. If you are involved in a Palm Beach County car accident with a stolen vehicle, you should contact a knowledgeable attorney to determine who will be responsible for your injuries.

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