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# Judge denies Montana shopper’s legal theory
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/judge-denies-montana-shoppers-legal-theory/
- Published: 2003-06-21T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:23:05.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Crime, Montana, #archive-import

*Court: Parking lot owner not liable for car’s damage*

*By DAVE DANFORTH Daily Press Staff Writer*

The over-the-top expectations of a Montana Avenue shopper were deflated in a court case in which a novel legal theory was proffered.

A parking lot owner in the high-end district is not liable for a $4,233 fender-bender just because there was no parking attendant there, a Santa Monica commissioner ruled.

Susanne Strimling said she received a rude shock when she returned from a shopping expedition April 25 to find her trunk crunched. She blamed the damage on the lack of a parking attendant at the small private lot where she parked. An attendant, she reasoned, could have prevented the mishap.

Strimilng brought her case to court with the following legal theory: The Montana Avenue district, which stretches from Seventh to 17th avenues, is so high-end that it has become “normal and customary” for the nine private lots to provide parking attendants. Since the lot where she parked at 1201 Montana Ave. didn’t have an attendant, it should pay for damage to her car, she reasoned.

3D1,“The attendant could have watched the circumstances” in the lot, Strimling told small claims Commissioner Roberta Kyman in her quest for her claim, which fell just short of the $5,000 small claims limit. She photographed other Montana lots that provide attendants. One pictured a valet in a straw hat.

Strimling couldn’t sue the perpetrator, who simply left the lot without leaving a note. Instead she sued the owner of the lot, the Julie Friedman Family Trust of Santa Barbara.

“We’ve owned the lot for 20 years and nothing like this has ever happened,” Julie Friedman said in court. “We have no control over how people drive.”

> “We’ve owned the lot for 20 years and nothing like this has ever happened. We have no control over how people drive.” — — JULIE FRIEDMAN Parking lot owner

Friedman suggested the suit was as silly as if a motorist who’d been side-swiped while parked on Montana had sued the City of Santa Monica.

Kyman agreed, but tacked on another legal twist. She warned Strimling that even if she won her claim and the parking lot was liable, she would be docked at least half the award for “contributory negligence.”

4F5,“You chose to park there,” Kyman said. “If you were to win, I’d reduce the award by at least half.”

But after deliberating, Kyman ruled that the lot had no liability. She’d noted that if a customer slipped on a rug in a shop and fell, the shop might be held liable. But if another shopper had pushed the customer, there would be no such liability.

Strimling complained that Friedman had admitted liability by later posting a sign at the lot, which stated that management isn’t liable for any damage there. But Kyman didn’t buy the argument, noting only that Strimling had gone to “further extremes” to satisfy her curiosity. The later appearance of a sign had no bearing on the case, Kyman said.

Kyman also noted that an attendant couldn’t have necessarily prevented an accident. Such an employee might be on break or looking the other way at the moment of truth, the commissioner suggested.

Some lots or the businesses owning them provide attendants as a courtesy to customers, Kyman said. But they are not required to do so. Kyman reserved her ruling to determine whether any local merchants association had enacted rules holding the district to a higher standard. But her ruling apparently indicated that she found none, and free parking — liability-free — remains.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/062103-03_01.jpg)

Signs are posted in numerous spots at the Montana Avenue parking lot. (Photo: Rob Piubeni/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 21, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/062103.pdf?ref=smdp.com)