Personal Property: General

Question 1

Parties who may bring an action for right to possession of personal property include…

Answer 1

a. one who has title to the property,
b. one who merely has a right to possession, i.e. finder of lost property, or the owner of the private property on which mislaid property was located, or a baliee).

Question 2

A lien is…

Answer 2

a right of a person to retain the lawfyul proeprty of another person until the lienee fulfills a duty to the lienor, such as payments for improvements to the property.

Question 3

A mechanics lien is…

Answer 3

a special lien that arises by legal relationship. In VA, a mechnic who repairs persnoal property, such as an automobile, has a lien against the property for up to $800.

Question 4

By statute, Virginia provides for liens held by

Answer 4

stablekeepers, marina owners, and hoteliers for unpaid charges.

Question 5

Under Virginia law, the owner of property on which a lien exists may, after 20 days’ notice to the lienholder, apply to the court to have the lien released or discharged. The court must order the lien to be released:

Answer 5

1) upon proof that the lien has been paid or discharged; 2) if it appears to the court that more than 20 years have elapsed since the lien matured (raising a presumption of payment that is not rebutted at the hearing); or 3) upon proof that no suit has been brought to enforce the lien within the limitations period. Thus, of the answers listed, only this answer describes a circumstance in which the court must grant a property owner’s request to release a lien on the property.

Question 6

Since a converter of property obtains no title from the true owner…

Answer 6

he cannot convey title to a subsequent, good-faith purchaser. Thus, even a bonafide purchaser for value who attempts to purchase the property from the converter will be liable to the true owner for conversion.

Question 7

If true owner of chattel did not intend to transfer title, and the transfer was obtained by fraud, the transferee obtains title which may be revoked upon discovery of the fraud. However, if a fraudlent transferee sells the property to a bonafide purcahser before his title is voided….

Answer 7

the purchaser recieves good title to the chattel.

Question 8

In Virginia, if a debt that creates a lien is not paid within 10 days after the due date and the value of the property does not exceed $10,000, the lienor may…

Answer 8

sell the property at auction. Any surplus from the sale must be paid to the lienee within 30 days.

Question 9

Mislaid Property

Answer 9

Mislaid property is that which the owner has voluntarily and intentionally placed somewhere and forgotten. The finder of mislaid property acquires no right to possession; in fact, the owner of the site obtains the right to possession until the property is claimed by the true owner.

Question 10

Finder’s responsibility

Answer 10

If a finder of property knows or has reasonable means of discovering the identity of the true owner of the property, he must take steps to notify the owner that the property has been found.

Question 11

Disclaiming Bailment Liability Signs

Answer 11

Often, the owner of private property to which the public has access, such as parking lots and restaurants, will post signs disclaiming liability for items left on the premises. Such signs are not determinative of the issue of whether a bailment has been created; rather, the actual degree of control exercised by the owner of the private property over such items is the critical factor.

Question 12

Remedies for Interference with title or right to possession

Answer 12

Plaintiff must elect between recovery of the goods (detinue) and a damage award for the value of the goods (conversion).
Plaintiff may also recover for damages caused by the D’s wrongful taking or detention of the goods (trespass)

Question 13

Detinue

Answer 13

A proceeding in detinue is one in which the plaintiff seeks to recover personal property that has been wrongfully taken or detained by the defendant. Virginia recognizes a statutory right of detinue whenever any goods or chattels have been wrongfully taken or are wrongfully detained.

Question 14

Safe Deposit Boxes: Bailments

Answer 14

The rental of a safe deposit box from a bank usually constitutes a bailment as a result of the degree of control retained by the bank. Generally, the user of a safe deposit box has one key and the bank has the other. Both keys must be used to access the box, and the bank controls access to the vault. Additionally, the bank has possession of, but not title to, the contents of the box.

Question 15

Safe Deposit Boxes: Gift

Answer 15

Control over safety deposit boxes MUST be transfered via donor consent for the donee to be admitted to the vault, at which the donee has control over the assets.
>If a safe deposit box is rented under the name of two or more persons, with the right of access being given to either or to the survivors of the pesons, any of them have right of access to the box and may remove its contents.

Question 16

Commercial & Mutual Bailments

Answer 16

> Commercial bailments are mutually beneficial to the bailor and the bailee. In a mutually beneficial bailment, the bailee is held to a standard of due care and will be liable for ordinary negligence. In contrast, for gratuitous bailments, the bailee is liable for loss of bailed property only in the event of gross negligence.
In a mutually beneficial bailment, such as the commercial bailment in this case, the bailee of goods is not the insurer of goods. (Note, however, that if the bailee does agree to insure the goods, the bailee will be absolutely liable.) In a mutually beneficial bailment, the bailee is held to a standard of due care and will be liable for ordinary negligence. When the bailee has taken all reasonable efforts to safeguard the bailed goods, he will not be held liable for a theft or fire which could not reasonably have been foreseen or prevented. As such, if the bailed goods are damaged or destroyed without negligence on the part of the bailee, the risk of loss falls on the bailor.

Question 17

Trespass to chateel is based on

Answer 17

right to possession of property, not interference with title. Therefore, it considers damage, deprivation, and dispossession of chattel from the owner.

Question 18

Conversion

Answer 18

D was guilty of wrongful taking or subsequent wrongful exercise of dominion and control over the property.
The purchaser of the property, though innocent, has also committed an act of interference with the owner’s title.
Remedy: forced sale of the chattel from the P to D; P gives up his title but in return receives the full market value of the property

Question 19

Abandonment

Answer 19

voluntary relinquishment of rights with no intent to reclaim - must be accompanied by an act or omission that disclaims it. Passage of time alone is insufficent.

Question 20

Converters and Bonafide Purchasers

Answer 20

Coverters have right to possession but not title. A purchaser from the converter, even if he qualifies as a bona fide purchaser for value, also obtains void title and is liable to the true owner for conversion.
Transfer by fraud - where the onwer of the chattel did not intend to transfer title of it, but the transfer was obtained by fraud, the transferee obtains voidable title. Such title can be revoked by the transferer upon discovery of the fraud. If the fraudulent transferee sells the property to a bona fide purchaser before title is voided, the purchaser receives good title and will not be held liable to the original owner.
Transfer of money or negotiable instruments: under the UCC, when the transfer of the bonafide purchaser is of money or negotiable instruments, the bonafide purchaser will retain title.

Question 20

If a finder knows or has reasonable means of discovering the identity of the true owner of the prperty…

Answer 20

he must take steps to notify the onwer of that propety. Finder owes the owner a duty of care (ordinary negligence)

Question 21

Adverse Possession

Answer 21

Personal property:
1. Actual possession
2. Hostile or adverse
3. Open & notorious, exclusive & continuous
4. under a claim of right for the statutory period of 5 YEARS

Question 22

Accession

Answer 22

labor or addition of value added to chattel by another person w/o consent of the owner, and w.o knowledge by the laborer of the owners rights.
Willful converters - no title
Innocent converters - if substantially changed in value or identity, accession occurs and OG owners rights may be cut off (OG owner can file damages even though cannot get specific property back)
If items can be identified and severed w/o injury to OG owner, title does not pass thru accession.

Question 23

Confusion

Answer 23

Intermingling of goods to an extent that OG owners cannot be identified anylonger – become tenants in common and thus owed % of what contributed (if this occurred unintentionally/mistake by all parties - no wrongful acts)

Question 24

Intervivos gifts

Answer 24

Donor must part with control of the property during his life, with intent that title pass immediately and irrevocably to the donee.

Question 25

Bank Accounts

Answer 25

In VA, joint accounts are considered to belong to each party in proportion to their net contributions (unless marriage - then equal share)

Question 26

Causa Mortis

Answer 26

Gift made in anticipation of imminent death from a specific cause. If the donor survives, it automatically is revoked. Must have a present donative intent evidenced by delivery.

The gift may not be revoked by the donors will, and the gift passes outside of probate. However, it may be revoked during the donors life.