Mother refusing to send me property, using restraining order to hold onto items.

[SubMerged0]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA


If this should go in another forum please let me know:
Hi, so I have a situation where my mother has all of my belongings in a box I could not take with me while going abroad, and is refusing to send it to me - I now live in a different city a few hours away, after returning back to the US, and she has actually gotten a restraining order because of past drama and the power games she likes to play, so I'm unable to physically go there myself to retrieve my property which she has refused to send since 2013. There was a desktop PC she sent to my father without my permission in a different state, before his death so that has become an unretrievable loss of 5-700 dollars. She did not have permission or ask to do this. Lacking my computer while working abroad was a huge hindrance and her constant hanging up the phone, or excuses, caused undue emotional distress. The items were in public storage at the time of my leaving the country and were put there in her house again without my permission by my uncle.
She refuses to talk with me and has even opened confidential medical records in the box that are not authorized for viewing for anyone except me, and is withholding those records, along with other things which were originally there, going so far as to text my personal contacts saying I have a disability, a health condition, disclosing confidential medical information taken from a SPECT scan authorized to be released only to me.

She has taken things out of the original container and has been sent me all of the junk (15 year old clothes, etc) and none of the important items which I've been requesting since going overseas in 2013 (all I really want at this point, is a LCD monitor, which has seemingly disappeared, and my books). I am now back in California and she is still refusing to give me everything in the box or to talk to me, and I don't believe she had or has the right to rifle through my personal property and change anything/put things in other boxes to send with my brother to me as she sees fit. This situation has been happening for over three years now exacerbated by me being abroad, but what are my options for retrieving my medical records and other items?

It seems there would be privacy and property laws being broken here? Any advice will be appreciated

 

[Dave1952]

So the items were in public storage but were released to an uncle. What does the storage facility say about this? Did your uncle have access to your stored goods? If not why aren't you suing the storage facility? I find your problem difficult to understand.

 

[SubMerged0]

He paid for it so the storage unit was probably under his or my name or both, and I left him with the keys before going abroad, there was no talk at the time of it to be moved anywhere else, and then a few months later after a phone call I learned they had been moved into my mother's property. The issue isn't so much the stuff being there but more treating my things like her property instead of mine, shipping things away, not cooperating with my request to pay COD for shipping, having items disappear, releasing confidential medical information to others, etc. I'm not sure if by default the storage unit would be at fault with all of the issues involved without looking at the contract, but I wouldn't think items inside would somehow transfer ownership?

 

[CdwJava]

If the person had keys and the unit was in his name (or shared with yours) he had access to it. Heck, if you gave him the keys that can be tacit approval allowing him to make access.

You can sue mom and uncle for the value of any lost property if you feel you can prevail.

 

[Dave1952]

Since you now live in Cal. you may try the small claims route. Be aware that a used monitor and computer will have little value. Ditto the books, most probably. So do the math. Is it worth it to take a day off, drive to her town, and sue? With adequate proof of your story you may win your losses and court costs. That may not be very much.