Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers

Jeanie Schmidt, the defendant in this lawsuit, found three bundles of artwork that belonged to James Castle and his family after she purchased their past home. Schmidt claimed that the artwork that she found belonged, legally, to her because she the artwork was abandoned property. The family of James Castle argued that they were still the rightful owners of artwork. The main theory the family argued was that the property itself was only mislaid property and that the property did not belong to Schmidt at all. 

The court in this case agreed with the family and held that the artwork did classify as mislaid property. The court reasoned that because the artwork was left in the Castle’s old house, the family never intended to abandon the property in the first place. Furthermore, the court held that Schmidt had a duty to return the mislaid property and failed to do so. The court also learned that Schmidt made several misrepresentations under oath. For example, Schmidt told the court that she had returned all of the art she found, however, this proved to be false because Schmidt would later admit that she had sold some of the property. She also stated that she gave the money to her family members.

See Patrick Orr, Judge: Finder in not a Keeper in James Castle Art Lawsuit, Idaho Statesmen, June 30, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.