Hotel Will Pay Compensation In Case of Car Theft – Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has ruled that the luxury hotels are liable to compensate guests if their car parked by a valet gets stolen or damaged. It will be applicable even if the free parking tokens or slips have a non-liability clause. Read – 15 All-New SUVs Launching in India in 2020
A bench of Justices Mohan M. Shantanagoudar and Ajay Rastogi announced the long-pending judgement of the case filed by Taj Mahal Hotel on an incident that took place in 1998. A visitor’s Maruti Zen car was parked by the hotel’s valet at around 11pm on 1st August, 1998 and when he returned at around 1pm the car was stolen.
The hotel management said that three boys had entered the hotel in separate cars, parked them and went inside. After sometime they came back and asked the valet to bring their cars. In between this process, one of them took the Maruti Zen’s key from the desk and stole it. Read – Top 10 Safest Made-in-India Cars
The Zen’s owner, however, received the insurance money. Later, the owner and insurer filed a case against Taj Mahal Hotel to get the value of the stolen car and compensation.
The apex court observed: “In a situation where the hotel actively undertakes to park the vehicle for the owner, keep it in safe custody and return it upon presentation of a parking slip in a manner such that the parking of the vehicle is beyond the control of the owner, a contract of bailment exists. Thus, the hotel would be liable as a bailee for returning the vehicle in the condition in which it was delivered.”
“The guest has an implicit expectation that the repute and standards of five-star hotels would entail adequate safety of the vehicles handed over for valet parking… In our view, the standard of care required to be taken by the hotel is sacrosanct and cannot be contracted out of.”
