Keys Were Left in Stolen Mercedes Before Fatal Mays Landing Crash. Could the Owner Face Civil Liability?

LONGPORT — The Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon that later crashed head-on in Mays Landing, killing two innocent people, was stolen hours earlier from Longport after its key fob had been left inside.

Could that seemingly simple mistake expose the vehicle's owner to civil liability for what happened afterward?

Under New Jersey law, the answer is potentially yes — but it is far from automatic.

The question arose Friday when attorney Tom Vesper discussed the Aug. 22 crash on The Don Williams Show on WOND.

Williams asked Vesper whether additional criminal charges such as death by auto could eventually result from the crash. Vesper, who cautioned that he hasn't practiced criminal law in about 20 years, said death by auto is a serious charge available under New Jersey law.

But Vesper then raised a different issue involving the owner of a stolen vehicle.

He recalled representing a case in which a vehicle had been stolen after its owner left it unsecured with the keys inside. The stolen vehicle was later involved in a crash that caused serious injuries.

“They were held partly responsible,” Vesper said of the vehicle owner in that case. “Their insurance paid a lot of money.”

His advice was straightforward.

“Don't leave your car unlocked, let alone leave the keys in it,” Vesper said.

A review of New Jersey case law by South Jersey NewsBeat shows that the issue Vesper raised has reached the state's highest court — and under some circumstances, an owner can potentially be held responsible.

New Jersey Supreme Court addressed almost this exact question

One of the leading New Jersey cases is Hill v. Yaskin, decided by the state Supreme Court in 1977.

The case involved a vehicle stolen from a Camden parking lot after its keys had been left with the vehicle. The following day, a Camden police officer spotted the stolen car and pursued it. The officer was injured when his police vehicle collided with the stolen vehicle.

The injured officer sued both the vehicle's owner and the parking lot operator.

Lower courts initially threw out the case.

The New Jersey Supreme Court reversed.

The court concluded there was enough evidence for a jury to consider whether negligence involving the way the vehicle and keys were left had created a foreseeable risk that the car would be stolen and subsequently driven negligently.

The ruling built upon an earlier New Jersey case, Zinck v. Whelan, involving a vehicle left unlocked on a public street overnight with its key in the ignition.

The legal reasoning was essentially that leaving an unsecured vehicle with its key readily available can, depending on the circumstances, create an increased and foreseeable danger not only that someone will steal it, but that the thief will subsequently cause an accident.

That doesn't mean everyone who leaves a key fob in a car is liable for whatever a thief later does.

It means New Jersey courts have recognized that the issue can be a question for a jury.

Circumstances matter

The details surrounding the theft can make an enormous difference.

In Hill, the Supreme Court emphasized circumstances including the location of the parking lot, its history of vandalism and the practice of leaving vehicles unlocked with their keys accessible after the attendant went home.

And New Jersey courts have continued to treat Hill as a circumstance-specific decision.

In a more recent Appellate Division case, Finaldi v. Knight, plaintiffs relied on Hill in an attempt to impose liability after a vehicle was taken and involved in a crash. Read the New Jersey court opinion HERE.

The court distinguished Hill, pointing to differences in the circumstances surrounding how the vehicle was secured and whether theft was reasonably foreseeable.

That distinction could become critical if civil litigation follows the Mays Landing crash.

What happened in Longport?

NBC10 reported this week that the Mercedes involved in the fatal crash was stolen from a home diagonally across the street from the Longport Police Department.

Longport Police Chief Ray Burgan told NBC10 that the Mercedes was one of three higher-end vehicles stolen in the borough within a week.

Burgan also identified a recurring problem.

“In this town 100% of the time, key fobs are being left in the cars, unsecure,” Burgan said.

That statement could be significant in any future civil case because foreseeability is central to the New Jersey cases.

But it is not currently known whether anyone intends to bring a civil claim against the Mercedes owner, and no court has determined that the owner acted negligently.

It also would be premature to conclude that the facts surrounding the Longport theft are legally equivalent to Hill or Zinck.

Exactly where the Mercedes was parked, whether it was locked, precisely where the key fob was located, what security measures were in place and what the owner knew about recent vehicle thefts could all become relevant if litigation were filed.

Hours later, two people were dead

The consequences of the theft were devastating.

The Mercedes was involved in multiple encounters with police during the hours that followed.

According to court records reported by NBC10, Longport police attempted to stop it at about 3:42 a.m.

Egg Harbor Township police encountered the SUV in a Walmart parking lot at approximately 7:18 a.m.

At approximately 7:46 a.m., Hamilton Township police spotted the Mercedes and another SUV near a housing complex. Both vehicles took off, and police lost sight of the Mercedes.

Approximately six minutes later, the Mercedes crashed head-on into another vehicle on Route 50 in Mays Landing.

Robert Barr Jr., 54, and Alice Stilwell, 67, both of Egg Harbor Township, were killed.

Nayshaun Brown, 18, of Atlantic City, and three juveniles have been charged in connection with the stolen vehicle and crash.

The charges are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

A thief's crime doesn't necessarily end the negligence question

Normally, a person's criminal act can break the legal chain between someone else's negligence and an eventual injury.

But New Jersey's Supreme Court has specifically recognized that an intervening criminal act does not necessarily eliminate someone else's liability when that criminal conduct was reasonably foreseeable.

In a later stolen-vehicle case, Berko v. Freda, the court revisited Hill and explained that the underlying question centers on whether the defendant's conduct foreseeably created an enhanced danger of theft followed by injury.

That distinction is important.

A civil case wouldn't ask whether the vehicle owner was responsible for stealing the Mercedes or for the alleged conduct of the people inside it.

Instead, the potential question would be whether leaving the vehicle and key fob as they were left created a sufficiently foreseeable risk of theft and subsequent harm that the owner had a legal duty to take greater precautions.

And if so, a jury could potentially be asked whether that conduct contributed to the damages.

Vesper's warning

Vesper did not say Friday that the Longport Mercedes owner is legally responsible for the deaths.

He didn't analyze the specific facts of the Longport theft and made clear that his criminal-law experience was dated.

Instead, he recalled a previous case as a warning about something many Shore residents still routinely do.

“It's something you've just got to be very, very, very careful,” Vesper said.

“Don't leave your car unlocked, let alone leave the keys in it.”

New Jersey case law suggests that advice may have consequences beyond preventing the loss of an expensive automobile.

Depending on the circumstances, leaving an unsecured vehicle with its keys accessible can potentially become part of a civil negligence case when the vehicle is stolen and someone else is subsequently injured or killed.

Whether that will happen following the Mays Landing tragedy remains unknown.

But nearly 50 years ago, the New Jersey Supreme Court rejected the idea that a vehicle owner's responsibility necessarily ends the moment a thief drives away.