6a

      James is likely to prevail on a breach of duty claim against Cate's Cleaners arising from the bailment of the tuxedo.

      Under Virginia law, to establish a prima facie bailment, the bailee must take possession of the personal property, with the intent to serve as a bailee over the property.

      In this case, James must first prove that Cate's Cleaners took possession of the personal property. That element is satisfied here because Vate took possession of the tuxedo and said it would be ready for him in two days. Next. James must show that Cate's Cleaners had the requisite intent to care for the personal property as a bailee. This intent requirement is established here by Cate's willingness to take the tuxedo when handed over by James. Cate acknowledged receipt of the tuxedo and assured the suit would be ready in two days.

      The next issue, is determining the level of care Cate's was required to observe while serving as a bailee of the tuxedo.

      Generally, an intentional, mutually beneficial bailment gives rise to a duty of ordinary care. Thus, the bailee will only be held liable if she fails to recognize ordinary care and the personal property is lost or destroyed as a result of the breach of duty.

      In this case, it is likely that James will prevail on this theory. A court will likely find that a Cate breached the duty of ordinary care when she forgot to give James his tuxedo ticket. Additionally, James was a regular customer and his information was properly entered into the computer, and was present on the label identifying the tuxedo as James's when Drake inspected it when he got home. Thus, not only was Cate likely in breach when she failed to give the ticket, but her failure to check the label was also a breach in her duty, and had she checked she would not have improperly delivered the tuxedo.

      Alternatively, Cate's Cleaners will likely be held liable on a theory of strict liability for a bailment. Under Virginia law, a bailee is strictly liable for the misdelivery of personal property. This liability arises in situations such as parking garages, coat checks, and situations like this at the dry cleaners. Thus, Cate will be held liable even if she exercised ordinary care because she misdelivered the suit.

      As a result, James will likely establish a prima facie case for a bailment and will likely prevail against Cate's Cleaners.

      6b

      As discussed above, to establish a bailment the bailee must take possession of the property with intent to serve as a bailee.

      Under the facts here, James is unlikely to establish a prima facie bailment.

      A bailment requires intent of the bailee to act as the bailee over the property. In other words, the bailee must intentionally exercise control over the property. Here, with regards to the ring, Cate's cleaners could not have intentionally taken control over the ring without having knowledge of the rings presence. The facts do not indicate that Cate had knowledge of the presence of the ring. In fact, the facts show that the ring fell out of the tuxedo when Drake picked it up. That evidences that the ring was still in the same pocket where it was placed by James.

      James may argue that there is a pre-existing relationship between the partie and if he is able to show that Cate's generally inspects the pockets he may be able to establish knowledge. But at the time possession was handed over there was no intent to take possession or exercise control over a ring. As a result, there was not bailment and James will not prevail against Cate's Cleaners with regards to the ring.

      6c

      If James does not prevail in either or both of his actions against Cate's Cleaners he should appeal to the Circuit Court for the City of Roanoke.

      Under Virginia law, General District Courts are considered courts not of record. As a result, both parties are entitled to appeal a judge's final order in General District Court ("GDC") so long as the proper periods are met, and there is a minimum of $20 at issue.

      In this case, if James does not prevail in GDC, he should appeal directly to the Circuit Court by filing a notice of appeal with the Clerk of Court at the City of Roanoke General District Court within 10 days of the entry of the final order in General District Court. James should also send notice of appeal to counsel of record for Cate's Cleaners.

      As long as the proper procedures are met, James will be entitled to an appeal in Circuit Court and the matter will be reviewed de novo, meaning there will be no deference to the ruling made in GDC. The Circuit Court will retry the matter fresh.

      6d

      Linda, as the finder, has a right to possession over the ring, but not title.

      Finders law in Virginia treats found property differently depending on the characterization of the property when found. Property may be characterized as abandoned, misplaced, or lost.

      Abandoned property is property that is left with the proper intent of the owner to relinquish both possession and title. A finder of abandoned property who has the intent to exercise title over property takes the property free from all other claims.

      The property here is not abandoned because James never relinquished title. James still intended to keep title of the property, evidenced by his desire to find it after it was not found.

      Property is "misplaced" when possession is voluntarily relinquished but there is not intent to relinquish title. A finder of misplaced property has inferior rights to the true owner, and the owner or occupier of the land on which it was found.

      In this case, James's ring was orginially misplaced. James, although drunk, intentionally placed the ring in the pocket, but later forgot to retrieve it. Thus, by placing the ring in its location voluntarily, he created misplaced property. This situation becomes more complicated because Drake did not find the ring from the position in which it was originally misplaced, but instead, the ring fell out onto a public sidewalk, unbeknownst to Drake.

      Ultimately, because the property was found in the street, and was there by no clear voluntary act, it is likely that the court will treat the ring as being lost.

       Lost property is property that is involuntarily left behind or misplaced. Finder of lost property takes the property with superior rights to all, except for the true owner.

      Here, the ring was found on the street which creates a strong indication that it is lost. It is very unlikely that a piece of fine jewlery would be found on the street because of the voluntary acts of another. Additionally, because the ring fell out of the jacket pocket instead of being placed there, it will likely be categorized as lost property.

      As lost property, Linda, as the finder, takes clear of all claims except from the true owner. As a result, Linda has no title to the property because James still retains title.

      If James is informed of Linda's possession of the ring, he can file a detinue action to recover the ring from Linda, and should prevail.

(a) Prima Facie Case of Bailment for the Tuxedo

James is likely to prevail in his case against Cate's cleaners for the loss of the tuxedo because Cate's was the bailee of the tuxedo. To establish a prima facie case of bailment, James must prove that (1) he had an ownership right in the bailed property; (2) he transfered present possession of the bailed property to the bailee; and (3) the bailee knowingly accepted the bailed property from the bailor. A traditional bailment occurs in situations where personal property is transfered temporarily for some purpose with the intent of receiving the property back. A bailee has a legal duty to take care with regard to bailed property. If a bailee loses or destroys the bailed property, the bailee will be liable to the bailor for damages. Here, James took his tuxedo to the cleaners. In this case, James is a classic example of a bailor, and Cate's is a classic example of a bailee. This is because James gave his tuxedo, temporarily, to Cate's for the purpose of Cate's cleaning the tuxedo and with the expectation of James receiving a clean tuxedo back. Cate's accepted the tuxedo. The fact that Cate's forgot to give James a ticket for his tuxedo does not provide Cate's with a defense to the claim of bailment. Receiving a ticket is not an element of a bailment, and the ticket merely serves as proof upon production that a bailment existed. The facts as described are sufficient to prove a bailment without the ticket. Based on the above, Cate's will be liable for damages to James for accidentally allowing Drake to take Jame's tuxedo.

That said, James' claim for detinue is for $1,000; however, the tuxedo that Cate's lost was only worth $800. James cannot succeed in his claim for $1,000 because believing he should be compensated for his trouble in getting a new tuxedo is not a sufficient reason for an increase in damages beyond the value of the bailed property. As a result, James can recover $800, the value of the tuxedo.

(b) Prima Facie Case of Bailment for the Ring

James' claim against Cate's for bailment of the ring will fail because Cate's was not a legal bailee of the ring. The applicable law is primarily described above in Section A. A bailee of property does not also become a bailee for other property contained within the bailed property unless the bailor gives notice that the other property is present and the bailee accepts the bailment. Here, neither Cate's nor James knew that the ring was in the tuxedo pocket. As a result, Cate's was not a bailee of the ring because it had no notice that the tuxedo contained the ring.

(c) James' Appeal and Standard of Review

If James seeks an appeal in this case, the appeal will be properly before the 23rd Judicial Circuit in the Circuit Court for the City of Roanoke. General District Courts are courts of limited jurisdiction up to $25,000 in controversey. General District Courts share jurisdiction with Circuit Courts where the amount in controversy is between $4,500 and $25,000. All appeals from judgments rendered in General District Court are to the Virginia Circuit Court in the same jurisdiction. The reviewing Circuit Court hears the case de novo, which means that neither the legal nor the factual findings of the General District Court are binding on the Circuit Court.

(d) Linda's Rights in the Ring

Linda has no rights in the diamond ring beyond a present possessory right until she returns the ring to James. In general, found property can fall into one of three categories: lost property, mislaid property, or abandoned property. Property is abandoned where the prior owner of the property had an intent to dispose of it. Where property is abandoned, the rule of first capture determines ownership. Where property is lost (where the owner did not have an intent to abandon the property), the finder of the property acquires good title to the lost property against all except for the rightful owner of that property. Property lost on private property, however, results in the rights of the finder of the property becoming subordinate to both the property owner and the original owner. The original owner has superior title to the property owner. Property is mislaid where the property was discovered in a place where it appears that the property was merely misplaced as opposed to lost. Here, the ring is best categorized as lost property because it was found on the ground in public. Linda found the ring on a public sidewalk, which gave her superior title to the property over all but the original owner. When Linda appraised the ring, she discovered that the ring belonged to James. Linda is thus on notice that James has a superior claim of title to the ring. Therefore, Linda has a mere present possessory right in the ring as the finder until she is able to locate James and return the ring to him.