Property I Outline –
Professor Gerald Torres – Fall – 2009
Book : Property: Cases and Materials (9th Ed.) Cribbet, Findley, Smith & Dzienkowski
Assignments:
1. Cribbet, pages 18-34; Burke, pages 3-13
Acquisition of Property: Finding
2. Cribbet, pages 103-124; Burke, pages 31-42
3. Cribbet, pages 124-140
Bailments – Personal Property
1. Bailemnt – transfer and delivery by an owner or prior possessor (bailor) of possession of personal property to another (the bailee):
(1) whose purpose in holding possession is often for safekeeping or for some other purpose more limited than dealing with the object or chattel as would its owner, and
(2) where the return of the object or chattel in the same, or substantially the same, undamaged condition is contemplated.
Meaning : bailment is the rightful possession of personal property by a person who is not its owner.
2. Examples of Bailments:
(1) rental car
(2) park car in commercial parking lot
(3) borrowing a book, you’ve got a bailment
(4) Safety Deposit Box generally counts
Uniform Commercial Code, Article 7 – addresses some aspects of commercial bailments.
3. Ways to create bailments:
1. Agreement
Express
Implied
2. Conduct of Parties
Sui generis hybrid of contract/property law – so contract regulating transfer of property (?)
4. Requirements for Bailment Creation:
1. Delivery
a. Actual – physically handed over
b. Constructive – keys are given to a particularly bulky item – transfer of control of the object w/out actually giving it to them
c. Symbolic – a document (or something) else that symbolizes the object to be bailed. Generally it’s a written instrument.
2. Acceptance
a. Actual
b. Constructive – mistake/possession when of lost good
Constructive Bailment – possession of personal property is acquired and retained w/out elements of delivery and acceptance but the baillee has an obligation to keep it safely and return it to its owner.
Liability in Bailments
Strict Liability – actor is liable for damages no matter what he did to keep the property safe.
Negligence – requires a degree of fault on behalf of the individual caring for the property.
(1) There must be a state created standard or duty of care
(2) Defendant’s action or inaction breaching the duty falls below the applicable standard of care.
(3) Also, negligence must cause injuries (proximate/legal cause)
(4) Plaintiff must suffer actual damages.
Misdelivery –
Strict liability in tort for misdelivery absent a statute to the contrary (UCC does this for warehouse operators.
Some States have created a presumption of negligence which allows the bailee to be absolved if they can prove they were non-negligent- which is very difficult.
Damage to Bailed Items:
Negligence applies to damaged good and the standard of care depends on the type of bailment.
1. Gratuitous Bailment —– bailee liable for gross negligence
2. Mutually beneficial ——-bailee liable for negligence w/ duty of reasonable care under the circumstances
3. Beneficial to baillee alone —– highest standard of care, mere neglect incurs liability in event of damage.
Case List: Cribbet, pages 141-148
1.Allen v. Hyatt Regency – Nashville Hotel –
A. Facts: Car was stolen from an attended commercial parking garage.
B. Issue: was a bailment created when the owners of the vehicle
locked it and retained the keys?
C. Holding: Yes, the actions constituted the creation of a bailment.
Non-delivery triggered the statutory presumption of negligence.
D. Reasoning:
(1) enclosed, indoor, attended garage
(2) delivery/acceptance fulfilled
(3) different relationships inapplicable due the
facts of case (ie not a lease)
Acquisition of Property: Adverse Possession
Adverse Possession: process by which person who uses property for a statutorily defined period of time becomes the owner and defeats all rights of its true or rightful owner, even if the latter had legal or record title.
Elements of Adverse Possession:
1. Actual
a. Gives notice
b. Evidences ouster of outer persons (establishes claim against others)
c. Conditions depend on nature of property and can be fulfilled by color of title = constructive possession for possessing the rest of the tract when he’s possessing part, this can be negated by actual owner possessing part of tract at same time (shortens statute of limitations).
2. Open and Notorious – gives notice to true owners. Fences/crops/enclosures = open notorious presence.
3. Exclusive – no two or more adverse possessors use property adverse to one another.
4. Hostile or Adverse –
a. Majority- hostile/adverse – no permission – when neighbors are at issue
nd charged admittance to enter the cave. They also improved the cave. Appellee acquired his land in 1908 without knowledge that portion of cave was beneath his land. Appellant and its immediate and remote grantors had exclusive possession of the cave. Appellant contends that it is in fee-simple possession of the cave due to adverse possession. No severance between surface and mineral rights.
Rule: hinged on open/notorious/ no fraud/secrecy
Issue: AP when owner had no way of knowing it was occurring?
Holding: No AP cause this amounted to fraud.
Reasoning: because no one knew that the cave actually extended under the property of the appellee, the use was not open, notorious or exclusive and as such did not satisfy the requirements for adverse possession. Reasonable care is invoked to explain why owner is not responsible. Owner had no way of reasonably knowing of adverse possession.
Howard v. Kunto (1970) – continuous possession from summer use – privity
Facts: 3 lots involved where individuals hold the deeds to land that is not the land their homes are built upon. Howards owned Moyers land and the Moyers owned the Kuntos’ land. The Howards ceded their deed of the Moyers land in return for the deed to the Kuntos’ land. The Kuntos appeal from a trial court decision that quieted the title of the land upon which their home is built to the Howards.
Issues:
1) Is a claim of adverse possession defeated because the physical use of the premises is restricted to summer occupancy?
2) May a person who receives record title to tract A under mistaken belief he has title to tract B and who occupies tract B, tack the use of tract B by his immediate possessors for the purposes of adverse possession if they too had title to tract A?
Rule: Summer use works for ap due to fulfilling intended use. In looking at people who rightfully thought the land was theirs, the privity works to tack AP even though the deed did not contain any part of land in question.
Holding: Reversed- title quieted to defendants (Kuntos) – ppl who thought they owned it.
