Parking Lot Hit-And-Run Vehicular Accident in Massachusetts

[dogwood]

My car is parked in a private parking lot, for which I pay a monthly fee. It is also open to the public, at an hourly fee, and also has valet parkers parking cars in the lot. It is frequently overfilled, w/ parked cars in firelanes, and handicapped spaces.

over the past weekend, we were out of town and came back to a huge hit on our passenger door and right front wheel and wheel well. the car is not drivable. no notes, no witnesses. there is a camera out front that snaps pictures of every car license plate entering the lot as well as exiting. I have asked the parking lot manager for any help he can give me, but he says he does not have access to the pictures of license plates, and no one knows anything or saw anything out of the ordinary, but he disclosed it was a 'slow weekend' (labor day in boston).

i have no collision insurance. I have state farm insurance which does not cover massachusetts, as I understood from my insurance agent as I talked to him last week when I told him I was moving the car here from where it is now registered (DE).

A neighbor whispered the parking lot manager told her they are responsible for damage to a vehicle, if the resident is out of town at the time of the accident. I never heard of such a thing, and he has told me they are not responsible. Any help is much appreciated and thanks in advance!

[Mr. Knowitall]

If you commence a "John Doe" lawsuit you should be able to get a subpoena to get the license plate photos, although there is no guarantee that you will find anything helpful from the photos.

I find it hard to imagine that there is any law, such as the one the neighbor described. You can research Massachusetts laws here.

[dogwood]

thank you so much. i thought either the parking lot insures the valet parkers, or not, and is insured for damages occurring on the lot or not. a resident being away or not should be irrelevent.