Wrongful Death Suit Filed Against Best Buy

Whenever we do business with a large retailer, especially one that has a physical store as opposed to being online, there is a sense of security. The assumption is that the business has been around for a long time, and only uses reputable employees and contractors. Surely, a large store can be trusted a lot more than a small mom and pop organization can be trusted, especially for services that require that store employees come into our homes.

Best Buy Used Third Party Delivery Service

That is likely what an elderly victim of a horrific crime in Boca Raton thought when she purchased a washing machine from Best Buy, and used them to deliver the washing machine, and install it in her home. What she didn’t know—and what so many people are not aware of—was that Best Buy was not the company doing the delivery or the installation.

Rather, Best Buy was contracting out with a smaller company, called XM Delivery. It is not known to what extent XM Delivery conducted background checks on its delivery people, but the elderly woman was unknowingly letting employees of XM Delivery into her home—not Best Buy employees.

Elderly Woman Murdered

On the day of delivery, two delivery people appeared at the woman’s home. As one delivery person waited in the truck, the other entered the woman’s house. The delivery person who waited outside, along with neighbors, heard screaming shortly afterwards. The delivery person had beaten the woman to death, doused her in acetone, and set her on fire, killing her in her home.

Later, the alleged killer admitted he had just used cocaine and had vaped marijuana. He also had a suspended license, and a theft charge in his background.

Wrongful Death Suit Filed

This catastrophe obviously has criminal aspects to it, but also civil ones. The family of the murdered woman has now filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Best Buy (as well as XM Delivery), alleging Best Buy failed to conduct background checks on the people it was putting into its customers’ homes, and that Best Buy did not allegedly disclose the fact that the delivery people were not Best Buy employees.

Although it was an employee of a contractor that is alleged to have murdered the woman, not Best Buy’s direct employee, that likely will not protect Best Buy. Companies cannot delegate out their duties of safety and responsibilities to other companies.

For example, if Walmart contracts with a cleaning company that leaves floors wet, and fails to warn that the floors are wet, Walmart could not point the blame at the cleaning company when someone falls on the wet floor. Like any retailer, Walmart has a duty of safety towards its customers that it cannot “pawn off” to another company.

The wrongful death lawsuit alleges that the woman endured torture in her final moments, and seeks emotional damages under Florida’s Wrongful Death statute for the woman’s surviving family.

If you are a crime victim, you may also be able to obtain damages in civil court as well. Contact the Miami personal injury attorneys at Velasquez & Associates P.A. today with any questions you may have.

Resource:

nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-grandma-was-allegedly-murdered-appliance-deliveryman-her-family-suing-n1059656

https://www.jvelasquezlaw.com/what-happens-when-evidence-is-lost-or-destroyed/