Eads v. Brazelton case brief
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22
Ark. 499
CASE SYNOPSIS: Defendants, partners and servants of a firm of wreckers doing business on the Mississippi, sought review of a decision of the Mississippi County Circuit Court in Chancery (Arkansas), which rendered judgment in favor of plaintiff salvager in an action by the salvager to enforce a permanent injunction barring defendants from removing bars of lead from a certain sunken riverboat.
FACTS: The salvager discovered the location of a certain sunken river boat and marked its location by tagging trees on the bank and attaching a buoy to the wreck. Defendants subsequently located the wreck and began removal of its lead cargo before the salvager could start his operations. The salvager obtained a permanent injunction barring defendants from working further on the wreck. When defendants interfered with the salvager's operations, he filed an action for violation of the injunction. The trial court found defendants in contempt of the injunction and fined them $ 1,000. Defendants appealed and alleged that the original injunction was erroneous.
HOLDING:
The court reversed the decision of the trial court and found that the original injunction was invalid because the salvager never had exclusive ownership rights in the wreck.
ANALYSIS:
The wrecked boat's lead cargo was abandoned property. To obtain ownership of the lead, the salvager had to obtain possession of it. Mere discovery of the location of the wreck was no enough. The salvager's acts of marking the trees and attaching the buoy only indicated a desire to appropriate the property and were not acts of possession.
CONCLUSION: The court reversed the trial court's judgment in favor of the salvager in an action by the salvager to enforce a permanent injunction barring defendants from salvaging a certain sunken riverboat, ordered that the fine paid by defendants for violating the injunction be returned, and ordered the permanent injunction dissolved.
CASE SYNOPSIS: Defendants, partners and servants of a firm of wreckers doing business on the Mississippi, sought review of a decision of the Mississippi County Circuit Court in Chancery (Arkansas), which rendered judgment in favor of plaintiff salvager in an action by the salvager to enforce a permanent injunction barring defendants from removing bars of lead from a certain sunken riverboat.
FACTS: The salvager discovered the location of a certain sunken river boat and marked its location by tagging trees on the bank and attaching a buoy to the wreck. Defendants subsequently located the wreck and began removal of its lead cargo before the salvager could start his operations. The salvager obtained a permanent injunction barring defendants from working further on the wreck. When defendants interfered with the salvager's operations, he filed an action for violation of the injunction. The trial court found defendants in contempt of the injunction and fined them $ 1,000. Defendants appealed and alleged that the original injunction was erroneous.
HOLDING:
The court reversed the decision of the trial court and found that the original injunction was invalid because the salvager never had exclusive ownership rights in the wreck.
ANALYSIS:
The wrecked boat's lead cargo was abandoned property. To obtain ownership of the lead, the salvager had to obtain possession of it. Mere discovery of the location of the wreck was no enough. The salvager's acts of marking the trees and attaching the buoy only indicated a desire to appropriate the property and were not acts of possession.
CONCLUSION: The court reversed the trial court's judgment in favor of the salvager in an action by the salvager to enforce a permanent injunction barring defendants from salvaging a certain sunken riverboat, ordered that the fine paid by defendants for violating the injunction be returned, and ordered the permanent injunction dissolved.
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Interested in learning how to get the top grades in your law school classes? Want to learn how to study smarter than your competition? Interested in transferring to a high ranked school?
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