Abandoned Property? a Case Review: International Aircraft Recovery, L.L.C V. United States of America

Abandoned Property? A review of the case International Aircraft Recovery v. U.S.

We will discuss the legal issues regarding property ownership, when the original owner has lost, misplaced, or abandoned that property. A particular focus will be to contrast the differences between the laws that regulate federal and private property.

The specific concern will be the case of the salvaged TBD-1 Devastator, a rare Navy aircraft recovered 8 miles off the coast of Florida, in 500 feet of water, and estimated to have a value of one to two million dollars once restored.

We will begin with the definition of lost, misplaced, or abandoned property, and proceed to discuss the history of property ownership law, speculate on the reasons for differences in property ownership laws, the rights of the individual or organization recovering federal property. We will conclude with a summary of the effect on private business when attempting to claim federal property.

What are the differences among lost, misplaced, and abandoned property?

Massachusetts, like every other state, has a process whereby abandoned property is turned over to the state. The origin of unclaimed property dates back to British common law when abandoned land was returned to the king. Today, states apply this concept to all-intangible property and tangible property, other than real estate. States do not take permanent title of the property but instead act as custodians to safeguard it for the rightful owners or their heirs to claim it. Most states do not have a time limitation for owners or heirs to file a claim.

Abandoned Property Statutes do not apply to federally owned assets or property. Per the Missouri statutes: Sections 447.500 to 447.595 shall not affect property the title to which is vested in a holder by the operation of statute of limitations prior to August 13, 1984, nor to any property held in a fiduciary capacity that was unclaimed property prior to August 13, 1974. This subsection shall not apply to property the title to which is vested in the holder when the holder is a federal, state, or local government or governmental subdivision, agency, entity, officer, or appointee thereof.

Should the federal government have special rules, or should federal property be subject to the same laws, rules and regulations as private property? As described earlier, found property can come under a few different categories. This particular aircraft would normally come under the heading of abandoned private property, as the owner, the United States Navy, made no further attempts to recover this lost property.

Putting aside the fact that this plane is federal property, is this plane lost, misplaced, or abandoned?

The federal government has recognized the need for special rules regarding its mislaid, lost or abandoned property. It has instituted The Naval Air System Command Fact Sheet of May 1987, which states that Navy aircraft belong to the Government of the United States until the Navy determines their disposition.

This was enacted for several reasons. The first is the governments need to preserve national security. Consider this example, the U.S. military could not locate an un-detonated nuclear warhead, and thus abandoned the search. A private party then locates this warhead and puts it on the open market for sale.

The U.S. government would consider this a case of national, and maybe world, security. Just the same, mislaid, lost, or otherwise abandoned material, though not necessarily directly a case of national security could be material that was dangerous to the finder, or the general public, if exposed to it. The Federal government also has the responsibility to maintain ownership of its historic aircraft in order to preserve the nation's heritage in naval aviation. The National Register of Historic Places is the nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect our historic and archeological resources.

The nation's historic treasures are representative of the nation's values, culture, and identity. If these artifacts are treated only in terms of monetary value, society as a whole becomes for sale to the highest bidder.

In addition, the Federal government has responsibility of protecting the rights of the deceased as well as the living. The Navy determined that a proposed Warbird Act, a proposal which would formally abandon all Navy aircraft lost prior to November 19, 1961 is in direct conflict with the Federal Property Act, 40 U.S.C. 512. This would lead to the disturbance of war graves. Again, in a similar example, it would be a sad commentary on our society if it were determined that the potential profits of a golf course would be worth the disturbance of the probable hundreds of unmarked graves, at the site of the battle of Gettysburg.

Mr. Champlin's Rights

Do you think that Mr. Champlin should have consulted with the Navy before spending his time and money on this project?

First of all the military has to recover or search for what they consider their missing property as much as they can. If the military decided not to search for that plane or their property, they consider it a lost cause for them. Basically if you decide to leave a piece of your property in a location without any regards of recovering then anyone can claim it for themselves. So Mr. Champlin did not have to consult the Navy for the rescue of their plane. He had his own motivation to find that plane and he did use his money to find the plane. Now it is wrong for the Navy for trying to take it back after he used his own money not the governments to find a plane of the Navy?

Should he (or the general public for that matter) have known about this special rule regarding federal property?

Every person in the United States should be aware of the laws, plus if the person does not know the laws or "special rules" of federal property then it can be researched in the public domain. Consider whether there should be a time limit or statute of limitations regarding the forfeiture or non-forfeiture of title. Also consider whether property should be considered lost or abandoned by the failure to protect or attempt recovery of the property.

Mr. Champlin gathered sufficient amounts of money to rescue a Navy TBD-1 Devastator when it crashed eight miles of the coast of Florida when the Navy did nothing to recover their property. Mr. Champlin did what any proud American or anyone would do when