Smith, a sales rep for Ziva, left $850,000 in jewelry in the trunk of his car when he took it to a car wash to be cleaned. Smith watched the entire procedure, to make sure no one opened the trunk, but while it was being dried, someone jumped in the car, took off, and stole the jewelry. He sued the car wash for allowing the theft of his personal property.
While the car wash had possession of his car, was it responsible for the jewelry? [Ziva Jewelry v. Car Wash Hq., 897 So.2d 1011, Sup. Ct., Ala. (2004)]