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Am i liable for a vandals injury if i reinforce my mailbox
Anonymous2 views7 answers
my mailbox was recently mailbox baseballed by a vandal and needs replaced so i have decided to make it much harder to break by putting a mailbox inside of another mailbox and filling the space with cement and mounting it to a 12 foot 4" diameter steel pipe but iv recently learned that this can cause serious bodily harm am i liable for a vandals injury if they break themselves trying to destroy my reinforced mailbox?
Your question is basically whether or not it is negligent for you to have a mailbox so sturdy that a criminal thug who hits it will break his arm. The answer is no. You don't owe a duty of care to someone to pad your mailbox so it is soft for them when they maliciously try to destroy it.
No, but if it makes you feel better, you can put a little sign on the side of it that explains it is reinforced with cement. The vandal won't read it anyway, but at least it'll be there.
This is not a really a criminal law question. The question that you should be asking is whether or not there would be some liability to a child who accidentally rides their bike into your mail box or if some other innocent person in injured some way or another. I don't know the answer to that question. Perhaps you should be asking a personal injury attorney for their opinion.
If you booby trap your property and a person, even a thief, got injured because of the booby trap, you would be liable. For example, if you shortwire a piece of electronics so that a person will be shocked when the person turns the electronics on, you will be paying for the person's injuries as well as sitting in jail/prison. Another example, if you set up a firearm to discharge when someone opens the door to your house, you will be paying money to the burglar who opens your door. (You will also face criminal law charges.)
So, for example, if you set up your mailbox so that it explodes when someone beats it, you will face civil liability and criminal law charges. The federal government may even be interested in prosecuting you since delivering mail is the federal government's job.
Would the set up described in your post expose you to civil liabilities and criminal law charges? I do not know without looking into the matter in depth.
How does your set up "cause serious bodily harm"? Will something come flying out of the mailbox when the mailbox is hit? Will the "12 foot 4" diameter steel pipe" collapse on the person?
You may be better off buying a really sturdy mailbox that is made and sold by some business and approved by the postal service.
Incidentally, the postal service has strict regulations on mailboxes. They have to be within a certain range above the ground. Your mailbox may not meet the requirements of the postal service.
Maybe. You know someone might injure themselves. If someone tries to break it again, and breaks their arm instead, chances are you will be sued. You might win, you might lose. I'm betting your insurance would just settle and your premium would go up. Buy a vinyl/unbreakable box instead. It's cheaper and you won't have to worry about some dumb kid breaking their arm and suing you.
