Law generally holds otherwise. Generally Person A is not not liable to Person B for the actions of an unrelated Person C, and especially for criminal acts of Person C, whether it occurs on A's property or otherwise. Example: You are crossing City street (i.e. City property) and Reckless Moron, driving 20 mph over limit, knocks you onto the sidewalk. Can you successfully sue City? Example 2: You are in line for teller at your Bank. Bank robbers burst in, heist goes awry, you are shot in leg by escaping robbers. can you sue Bank? Answer in both cases is no. It's like suing a ski resort because some skier runs into you (or because someone steals your skis while you are having lunch).

Exception to this general rule is if the property owner either has a special duty to you (say, by virtue of statute, or by contract, e.g. promising they will guard your car) or contributed to the situation (say, in first instance, a defective streetlight gave you the "Walk" sign and Moron the green light, or that in second situation, Bank's guard, in violation of accepted security principles, began a free-fire shootout in the lobby).

Shopping carts usually don't dent cars by themselves. If a Moron Shopper dings your car, or leaves a cart rolling in the wind, it will usually not be considered Shopping Center's fault. Property owner usually has to be "on notice" of a dangerous condition before he will be liable for injuries. See Bost v. Chief Supermarket, 1997 Ohio App. LEXIS 1207 (Ct. App. No. F-96-028, 6th App. Dist., Fulton County); Znoski v. Shop-Rite Supermarkets, Inc., 122 N.J. Super. 243, 300 A.2d 164, 1973 N.J. Super. LEXIS 663 (N.J. Super. Ct. 1973). In the first case, the customer not only ultimately lost but had to pay the store's court costs. In the latter case, the court observed that shopping carts are not dangerous instrumentalities, are uniquely suited for the purpose for which they are designed, and that a store owner is not the insurer of its patron's safety, but only has to take reasonable measures. For collections of cases on this and similar fascinating subjects, see 94 A.L.R.3d 439, and 42 A.L.R. 5th 159 (American Law Reports available in any law school library and most governmental law libraries).

In case of vandalism, such as the tragic keying of mightyjlr's X-fire, even less chance of a claim against the store or mall.