Personal Property Bailments

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Personal PropertyBailments

• 2009 edition

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Bailments

• Definition
• Relationship BR BE
• Duties of BE protect redeliver
• Elements actual control intent to control
• Types voluntary contractual implied in fact
• involuntary implied in law
• Non-bailments sales, gifts leases
• Two special issues Scope hidden items
• Mistake in value

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Bailments

• Duties of BE protect redeliver
• Duty to Protect Sliding scale of liability
• . BR benefits gross negligence
• . Mutual ordinary negligence
• . BE benefits slight negligence
• Duty to redeliver
• . Old cases strict liability
• . Progressive cases strict liability voluntary
  B
• negligence involuntary B

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Analyzing a Bailment Problem

• 1. Does a bailment exist? (Are the two elements
  met 1) BEs actual control of the bailed chattel
  2) BEs intent to possess it?)
• 2. If so - is the chattel within the scope of the
  bailment? (N.B. hidden object problem mistake
  in value problem)

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Analyzing a Bailment Problem

• 3. If so, is which BE duty is at issue
• duty to protect? and/or
• duty to deliver?

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Analyzing a Bailment Problem

• 4a. If duty to protect apply correct standard
• of care per benefit of bailment
• BRs benefit p must prove gross negligence
• Mutual benefit p must prove ordinary
• negligence
• BEs benefit p must prove slight negligence

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Analyzing a Bailment Problem

• 4a. If duty to redeliver involved apply correct
• standard per voluntary or involuntary bailment
• Voluntary bailment strict liability
• Involuntary bailment
• . older case law strict liability
• . progressive case law negligence

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Bailments Hypos

• P(aula) buys a personal computer and has it
• delivered to her home. The UPS man leaves
• the package containing the computer on
• D(an)s front porch but it is addressed to P
• who lives next door. Before D gets home
• from work, the package is stolen.
• Is D liable?

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Bailments Hypos

• Same facts except - D arrives home and
• takes the package into his living room.
• One hour later Ds five-year old son, Raul
• opens the box and pours a tumbler of milk
• into a hard drive destroying the
• computer.
• Is D liable?

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Bailments Hypos

• Suppose the computer is left on Ds porch. When
• D gets home he takes the box and gives it to a
• person (call him X(avier)) who seems to be
• working on Ps lawn. D tells X to deliver the box
• to P but X never delivers the box to P instead
  X
• keeps the computer.
• Is D liable?

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Bailments Hypos

• P is about to go to Europe on an extended
• vacation. She asks D, her neighbor, whether she
• can store her Maserati in his garage while she is
• gone. He agrees and receives no compensation
• for it. While P is in the Alps, vandals enter
  the
• garage and damage the Maserati. Apparently
• that night, D forgot to lock his garage door.
  If P
• sues D for the value of the necessary repairs,
• What standard of negligence applies?

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Bailments Hypos

• D asks P if he can borrow her riding lawn mower
• to cut his lawn. While using the mower, D
• notices excess smoke coming from the engine
• but he ignores it and finishes cutting the lawn.
• Later it is learned that the mower was low on oil
• and when D failed to stop the engine while
• cutting, the engine burned out. If P sues D for
• 2000 to replace the motor.
• What standard of negligence applies?

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End