Loading ...City of Dallas takes $2,000 from honest teen
flockwoodFifteen-year-old Ashley Donaldson found $2,000 in an envelope near a Chase Bank. Instead of pocketing it, she did the right thing and turned it into the bank. Nobody claimed the money. So some folks assumed Donaldson would get to keep the money after all.
But the city of Dallas swooped in and kept the money for itself. They claimed they have some sort of new-fangled policy that allows them to steal keep money that is turned in by honest citizens if the rightful owner never steps forward to claim it.
Unfortunately for Dallas, Texas law doesn’t allow government agencies to seize assets from honest, law-abiding citizens in this particular fashion.
The city is now backtracking after facing sharp criticism. An unscientific online poll by a north Texas television station shows that 99 percent of those participating say Donaldson should be able to keep the money.
More details are available here.
May 12th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
“Texas law doesn’t allow government agencies to seize assets from honest, law-abiding citizens…”
If you want to say that the money does not belong to the city of Dallas, fine. What I don’t understand is why the money is rightfully the property of the finder. “Finders, keepers” might be a common practice but the money wasn’t hers in the first place, she didn’t earn it, and she didn’t receive it as a gift. How is it possible for the city to steal from Ms. Donaldson what does not belong to her?
May 12th, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Why is the money rightfully the property of the finder and not the city of Dallas?
Because of the English.
And property law.
And common law.
There’s hundreds of years of case law — plus statutes in a lot of places — addressing lost, mislaid and abandoned property.
Plus private property cannot be seized by the government for public use without just compensation.
The bottom line — Ms. Donaldson has a stronger claim to the property because she found it and the city of Dallas didn’t.
May 12th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
Thanks for the explanation. For those of us who are not lawyers and who did not take a class in property law, it would have been very helpful to mention that essential piece of information in the original post.
It was nice to see that the Dallas Police Chief admitted the error and accepted responsibility. I am curious about how this city policy could have been enacted in the first place, if it clearly contradicts state law and common law and if the conflict is so danged obvious that even Arkansans see no need to bother explaining it.
May 16th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
By allowing the finding party to keep the money in the event it goes unclaimed, the law creates an incentive for turning in lost items. Keeping the funds for themselves would produce a chilling effect, causing people to think twice about turning in lost items for fear the government will just wind up keeping it for themselves.