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Damage caused by shopping cart

Question:

If someone goes shopping in a mall and doesn’t return the shopping cart and on a windy day (not a Ruach Sheina Metzuya) the shopping cart damages someone’s car. Is the person who did not put back the shopping cart to the designated area responsible for any damage to the car? Sometimes if a person has a a lot of kids with them it is not always practical to properly return the shopping cart. It is not that easy to either find a parking spot near the designated area for the shopping carts or to load up the car and then take the kids with you across the shopping mall to return the shopping cart with all the cars backing out. It could be very dangerous in a parking lot and not always wise to make an extra trip to return the shopping cart. How important is it to go out of one’s way to return the shopping cart to its proper place if there is a chance it will damage a car?

Thank you!

Answer:

Answer by Horav Y. Fleishman shlit”a.

It would seem that you are chayav to pay for the damage because it is like putting a stone in a place where the wind can cause it to damage so it will be aish-therefore it is important to return it.

As a side point from one of the Rabbonim of the Bais Horrah-

If the wagon would not be able to move in a normal wind then you would not be liable to pay for the damage, as that would be considered an ones.

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