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When people use self-storage lockers for illegal purposes, does the storage company face potential liability?
Two separate recent uses of such lockers - to imprison Exxon Corp. executive Sidney J. Reso in a kidnapping-death and to store materials allegedly connected to the World Trade Center bombing - bring the issue to mind.
But lawyers say the self-storage companies generally structure their contracts with users in such a way as to avoid legal problems. Storage facilities have much have much the same kind of legal relationship with renters that landlords have with tenants, the lawyers say. Renters provide their own locks, and the facility isn't legally obligated to closely monitor what goes in and out.
In addition, self-storage leases typically prohibit illegal activities at a storage site, said Robert L. Brown, executive director of the Self Storage Association, a trade group based in Cincinnati. More specifically, the leases usually include an agreement not to stow away explosives and flammable materials. Such stipulations make it unlikely that anyone would win a lawsuit over an illegal use, lawyers said.
To successfully sue a storage-locker owner, a plaintiff "would have to show that the facility had knowledge of what was happening, and that's not very likely," said Kenneth M. Piken, an attorney in Lake Success, N.Y., and general counsel of the New York State Self-Storage Association.
Bombing suspect Mohammed Salameh, in addition to using a storage locker, also rented a van in New Jersey, allegedly to carry explosives to the trade center, from Ryder System Inc. James M. Herron, Ryder's senior executive vice president and general counsel, said the company's leases prohibit hauling explosives. Some states, though no New Jersey, have "vicarious liability" laws that make car-rental companies liable for driver negligence. "But trying to blow up the World Trade Center is not negligence," Mr. Herron said.

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