if a mere mortal reports vandalism, they get told by their local PD: "we don't respond to property crimes. Fill out a police report online and we'll get back to you".
Drones should have a "piñata radius" so if you're flying it close enough where I can hit it with a bat I should be able to. Like when I was at a skatepark and this drone nerd was pissing everyone off. The drone ended up in the lake pretty quickly.
Pinata radius might actually be legally allowable. Drone operators must maintain the safety of those in the area. Flying that close to a person with spinning blades arguably constituents an imminent threat to safety and it might be ruled justified to knock it out of the sky.
What will be legal is to simply sue the owner of the drone for breaking your window when your neighbor shot it down. Let the owner and the neighbor sort it out if the owner can prove the neighbor shot it down. But until that proof is forthcoming, the owner is liable. Same as any plane crash. Oh, and Heaven help the owner if any humans or pets in the house are injured.
After a while, that will get so expensive that either they will stop using drones to deliver, or drone design will improve to the point that they become almost impossible to bring down.
Either way, hey, gets rid of the problem of drones dropping on your property.
that's a good fantasy. but here's how I think it would play-out in reality:
* your new window was $1800, so even with treble damages, it's still under $10k, which means it is a small claims issue.
* sue AMZN (or some subcontractor/"third party") in small claims, they don't show up. you get a default judgement
* good luck collecting. the moment you do, they start denying it on technical grounds. Oh you were a prime member in 2018, remember when you agreed to settle all disputes in mediation? well, we remember.
* Go to mediation, they find that your neighbor is culpable for the accident, rules 100% against you. Or better yet, they refuse to engage with you because your neighbor won't agree to be bound by the arbitration.
And if you think damages are less than 10k from some kid getting hit in the head by a drone crashing through his/her window, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. In the US, healthcare alone is not that cheap.
Finally, you suing AMZN is not how things work in the US. In the US, the relevant insurance companies work it out with each other. What I mean by that is, it is AmFam suing AMZN. And believe me, AmFam is gonna get every penny it's owed.
You're the one living in fantasy land if you think homeowners sue liable parties for money in the US rather than filing claims with their home insurance company.
If everyone just keeps that full coverage, it will work itself out. AMZN will be paying those claims. Or rather, AMZN's insurers will be paying those claims.
AmFam, State Farm, et al. suing AMZN for these claims nationally literally makes AmFam money over time. While costing AMZN money. That's what will move AMZN to either cease the practice, or design drones that are resilient to nearly any kind of attack.
