Oliver is walking through a residential neighborhood on a Sa…
Oliver is walking through a residential neighborhood on a Saturday morning when he notices a garage sale at 54 Maple Street. Paula, the homeowner, is running the sale. Several tables are set up on Paula’s front lawn displaying clothing, books, and household items, and a number of neighbors are browsing as they walk around the yard. As Oliver approaches the house, he sees a diamond necklace lying on the ground. He uses his phone to take a photograph of the necklace where it rests and then picks it up. Oliver later claims that he found the necklace on Paula’s front lawn, near the tables displaying items for sale. Paula, however, insists that Oliver picked it up from underneath bushes on her property, adjacent to but clearly separated from the lawn area where the sale was taking place. Oliver shows the necklace to Paula and says, “This looks valuable. Maybe someone who came to the sale dropped it.” No one present recognizes the necklace or claims ownership. Paula offers to hold onto it in case the true owner returns. Oliver replies, “Sure, hold it for now, but if no one claims it, I’ll want it back.” Paula places the necklace in a small locked cash box she is using during the sale. Later that afternoon, Oliver receives a notification on his phone from his cloud storage provider warning that his storage space is nearly full and that additional fees will be charged unless he deletes files. He scrolls through his photos and deletes several items, including the photograph of the necklace. Oliver later explains that he did not think the photo was important and wanted to avoid paying for additional storage. No one claims the necklace over the next two weeks. Oliver returns to Paula’s house and asks for it back. Paula refuses. Oliver files suit seeking return of the necklace. During discovery, Paula learns that Oliver took a photograph showing where he found the necklace but later deleted it. She moves to dismiss the case, arguing that Oliver destroyed key evidence bearing on the location of the find. Assume the true owner cannot be identified and is not part of the dispute. Analyze the most significant property law issue and the most significant civil procedure issue raised by these facts. For each issue, make sure to use an IRAC structure, to analogize and/or distinguish one key case that we studied, and to consider the best counter-arguments to the outcome you think a court would be most likely to reach. Remember that you will be graded on the quality of your legal analysis, and not on the outcome that you ultimately conclude the court should reach.