Friend wont return personal property?
2 years ago in October a friend of mine lost her home in a fire. Another friend of ours offered to keep her horse at her farm for .00 a month plus feed and hay. Soon my friend started to fall behind on board so i offered to pay up her board and feed in return for her horse. She agreed to let me do that. I called the lady in charge of taking care of the horse and told her what was going on and to get a total of what the horse had eaten so that I could pay her. My friend was only 0 behind on board. She would not give me a total for the hay and feed. She told me that in order for me to take the horse I would have to pay her ,100.00. I told her that it wasn’t going to happen but that I would be coming out to pick up our tack and what other property my friend had there including a shotgun. It took awhile but I finally got her talked into letting me get our stuff. We set up a day to get it and she wasn’t there and neither was our stuff. I called and left her a message to get back to me but of course she never did. I have talked with her numerous time through out the last 2 years but she never has time to meet. Today I went to her house to see if she had time to go get the stuff but she gave me a run around. I also found out that she sold the shot gun and that the stuff was now being kept at her ex boyfriends house but he wasn’t home and she refused to give me his number so that I could set up a time to meet him. She said that she had every right to sell the gun because it was property left behind. She also sold the horse with out contacting my friend. I dont know if she was bound by law to do that or not. All we want is our stuff back. My friend understands that she lost her horse because she couldn’t afford to keep him while she was trying to get back on her feet. Some of that tack belongs to me and my husband. Is there anything we can do. There was never a board agreement signed. This took place in Minnesota if it matters.
To Kit
No thats not us. We are not trying to get the horse back.
I just found this information but I am not sure if it would apply to either my friend or I.
http://www.socrates.com/p-10563-notice-of-sale-of-abandoned-property-minnesota.aspx
notify tenants that they have left behind personal property in the abandoned rental unit
inform tenants that their possessions have been stored and provide them with the name and location of the storage facility
warn tenants that their personal property will be disposed of or sold unless they pay for the storage charges and reclaim their property within a time period specified by Minnesota state law
4 Responses
Kit
30 Mar 2010
HelloKittyGrl
30 Mar 2010
Call the cops duh. explain, see what can be done. This sounds like legal shit and lawyers and stuff will be needed
Tracey Seth
30 Mar 2010
Yeah you can do something! File a complaint with the police department and say she stole your things! You can’t do anything about your friend’s property, but you can about yours. Tack and horse equpiment is expensive and she owes you what it was worth.
You’ve played her game long enough. Time for her to answer for her theft!
lawmomof3
30 Mar 2010
This is NOT a criminal matter, so ignore the advice about calling the police.
Your friend needs to file a small claims action. The problem she’s going to have is the fact that two years has gone by. It’s going to be very difficult for your friend to recover any money. There was a verbal agreement with regard to the care of the horse – which your friend breached. This woman will probably argue that your friend abandoned the horse and the property. If the court finds that the property was abandoned, then your friend will not recover a penny.
You do not have a cause of action against this woman because you had no agreement with her. If she still had the property, then you could demand the return of the property. But if it has been sold then your only cause of action is against your friend. And even so, you are going to have the same problem . . . because so much time has gone on.
You mentioned that you’ve talked to her a number of times over the last two years. Unfortunately, this isn’t good enough. You should have sent letters. Then you would have evidence about your communication efforts. The way it will look to a judge is that the property and horse were abandoned for two years, and your friend is only now trying to get her stuff back. Two years is an unreasonably long period of time. I’m sorry to say that I wouldn’t predict any efforts will be successful at this point.
I’m pretty sure that what occurred would be considered abandonment, by your friend, in a court of law.
She left the horse and it’s stuff including the gun behind.
The woman avoided dealing with you because her "agreement" even if it was only verbal, was with your friend.
That’s why she wouldn’t give you the cost of the feed on that first phone call.
She checked it out and confirmed that what your friend did would be considered abandonment and that the horse was then hers.
So, you could have it for 2,100.
She’s a plucky one.
She also then, obviously, realized that the gun and the tack was then hers to keep too.
She’s crafty. She happily set up meeting dates and times with YOU and not your friend because she knew that you were nothing. She had no agreements with you, and thus, had no desire or intentions of meeting with you ever.
She was buying time in order to sell the animal and your stuff.
That’s why she also moved it over to her boyfriends.
She thought maybe you’d actually go into the barn and get your stuff if she wasn’t there.
Your stuff is gone.
She knows, and you should know, that your only course for reimbursement for any of it is out of your friends pocket.
You would have to take your friend to court and sue her for the amount of the used tack, and hey, what the hell, might as well throw in the 2 mos. board too.
It sux.
I know. Really.
You were both totally taken advantage of.
////////
heh.
I think the person who has your stuff is asking if it’s ok to keep it here:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Agjf4aU13HpITSHJ2GwR6tXW7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20091107194149AAt6WyQ