Can you claim an electric scooter laying in the middle of the road under legitimate salvage, unclaimed property, adverse procession,etc???

[Savage Dragon]

Is it considered legitimate salvage, unclaimed property, adverse procession,etc.. to take one of those electric scooters that people leave laying around the street.

I know a lot of kids throw them in the ocean, rivers, light then on fire, throw them off buildings,etc..

Could someone take them if they think they are abandoned? Maybe sell them for parts or something?

 

[Just Blue]

No. You can't take something that doesn't belong to you.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Is it considered legitimate salvage, unclaimed property, adverse procession,etc.. to take one of those electric scooters that people leave laying around the street.

No. The scooters are not your property. Taking them for your own would constitute a theft of the property. Unless you pay to use them just leave them be where they are. If one is on your property you may move it off your property, but that's about it.

I know a lot of kids throw them in the ocean, rivers, light then on fire, throw them off buildings,etc..

And if they got caught, they could be charged with a crime, too.

 

[Savage Dragon]

No. You can't take something that doesn't belong to you.

Appearently you can if its "unclaimed property".

I use to have a boat and I learn that you can claim another boat for salvage if they are abandoned and blocking a waterway or something like that.
The states will routinely empty your bank account if you did not contact the bank by phone, email or facebook in like a year. They say its " unclaimed property" I witness SeaTow the company doing this to a yacht that the owners like ran out of gas or something and they had large banners tied to the boat saying they were claiming it as salvage.

People can also take mansions that don't belong to them if the owner is away, in a coma, cruise around the world, mission to the 3rd world, etc... They find a house that the owners are away and they will break in their house and claim " adverse procession"

You can also claim land like this and even if you did not intend to do it, the courts have granted people right to land they never purchased. Sometime as innocent as building a structure or fence on the wrong spot that goes noticed for a period of time.

So there are many times in which people can legally take things that don't belong to them.
I am wondering if the scooters left in the middle of the road or sidewalk if one of them. I hear some tow truck company in California has taken like thousands of them.

What are the rules on abandoned property and salvage in this way?

 

[Savage Dragon]

No. The scooters are not your property. Taking them for your own would constitute a theft of the property. Unless you pay to use them just leave them be where they are. If one is on your property you may move it off your property, but that's about it.



And if they got caught, they could be charged with a crime, too.

In the right circumstance, a abandoned boat can be taken/claimed by another individual. I have see Sea-tow the company do this.

States take people bank account all the time because they claim they are abandoned because the person did not call the bank in like a year.
(Why would you call in on a 30 year CD anyway?) .

People can break into houses they don't own and claim it under "adverse procession" or build a structure like a decorative fence on the wrong spot and claim the land as your own.

If all these situations exist and are legal ways for one party to take property owned by another party, why would scooters left in the middle on the street flat on the ground be any different. It has all the appearance of being abandoned property.

Also technically the law defines theft as taking something with the intention of not giving it back or something to that effect. Well as long as you were willing to give it back if asked by a cop or the company, would that still be considered stealing?

I saw a youtube video that this guy was filming and angered some security guard in front of a building so he snatched his camera and went inside the building. The Camera owner called the cops and they came and got the camera back for the person but refuses to arrest the security guard because they claimed " since he gave it back, it would not considered stealing" I can show you the video if you would like.

 

[Just Blue]

Appearently you can if its "unclaimed property".

I use to have a boat and I learn that you can claim another boat for salvage if they are abandoned and blocking a waterway or something like that.
The states will routinely empty your bank account if you did not contact the bank by phone, email or facebook in like a year. They say its " unclaimed property" I witness SeaTow the company doing this to a yacht that the owners like ran out of gas or something and they had large banners tied to the boat saying they were claiming it as salvage.

People can also take mansions that don't belong to them if the owner is away, in a coma, cruise around the world, mission to the 3rd world, etc... They find a house that the owners are away and they will break in their house and claim " adverse procession"

You can also claim land like this and even if you did not intend to do it, the courts have granted people right to land they never purchased. Sometime as innocent as building a structure or fence on the wrong spot that goes noticed for a period of time.

So there are many times in which people can legally take things that don't belong to them.
I am wondering if the scooters left in the middle of the road or sidewalk if one of them. I hear some tow truck company in California has taken like thousands of them.

What are the rules on abandoned property and salvage in this way?

Unless you are currently looking at a scooter laying on the sidewalk in front of your house/apt/tent, then this is a hypothetical question. We don't answer hypothetical questions.

 

[Savage Dragon]

Unless you are currently looking at a scooter laying on the sidewalk in front of your house/apt/tent, then this is a hypothetical question. We don't answer hypothetical questions.

Yes, I trip over scooters on the sidewalk in front of my building all the time. They are literally left in the middle on the sidewalk flat or sideways on the ground. You want the GPS locations and a print satellite map from google?

I live in one of the test cities for this thing and the city console has no backbone to stop it. They are considered a annoyance for pedestrians.

You can't walk down the sidewalk without getting almost run over by one of them or tripping on them. They are all over the sidewalk, the grass, sometimes even in the street.

This is real not hypothetical. I do encounter these annoying things all the time and would like to know if they are situation that you could remove them as abandoned , salvage or adverse possession.

Houses can be worth Millions, bank account can be worth million, ships can be worth hundreds of millions or even billions. These all have situations that allow one party to take something that does not belong to them legally.

Do these annoying scooters laying in the middle of the sidewalk/street have the same legal ownership transferring situations as land, houses, bank accounts, and ships?

P.S. I did not even include assert forfeiture in which a cop can just take your stuff without even being arrested or convicted of a crime.

We are still in America right?

 

[Taxing Matters]

In the right circumstance, a abandoned boat can be taken/claimed by another individual. I have see Sea-tow the company do this.

The key phrase is the right circumstance, one of those being that the boat is truly abandoned. You know the scooters are not abandoned because the companies that own them track them and use a business model where people using their app can just pick them up and use them where they find them. Unless you know the property is abandoned you can't take it for your own.

Moreover, in many states the process for claiming abandoned personal property like watches, scooters, or whatever is to turn them over to the police so that the true owner has the chance to reclaim them. Your state of Florida is a classic example. Under Florida law, if you see personal property like a scooter that appears to be abandoned, you cannot just take it. In fact, the law specifically says it is illegal for you to take it. Instead the law requires you to notify law enforcement. Specifically, Florida Statute section 705.102 states:

705.102 Reporting lost or abandoned property.—​

(1) Whenever any person finds any lost or abandoned property, such person shall report the description and location of the property to a law enforcement officer.​

(2) The law enforcement officer taking the report shall ascertain whether the person reporting the property wishes to make a claim to it if the rightful owner cannot be identified or located. If the person does wish to make such claim, he or she shall deposit with the law enforcement agency a reasonable sum sufficient to cover the agency’s cost for transportation, storage, and publication of notice. This sum shall be reimbursed to the finder by the rightful owner should he or she identify and reclaim the property.​

(3) It is unlawful for any person who finds any lost or abandoned property to appropriate the same to his or her own use or to refuse to deliver the same when required.​

(4) Any person who unlawfully appropriates such lost or abandoned property to his or her own use or refuses to deliver such property when required commits theft as defined in s. 812.014, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.​

Note specifically what subsections (3) and (4) tell you. It specifically says that it is illegal for anyone finding abandoned property to take it for himself and says that anyone who does that commits a theft offense. So you have it right from the Florida law itself — taking the abandoned property would be a theft crime, just as I said before.

Instead, you have to notify law enforcement and tell the officer that if the true owner is not found by the police that you want to make a claim on it. Since the name of the company that owns the scooter is right on it, the cops would be able to find the true owner within minutes and you'd not ever get to claim it yourself. It would be a waste of your time.

States take people bank account all the time because they claim they are abandoned because the person did not call the bank in like a year.

That's due to a specific statute in each state that provides for it known as escheatment laws. Note that when the property is turned over to the state, the state still will give it back to the owner if the owner contacts the state. The state doesn't just get to keep it.

People can break into houses they don't own and claim it under "adverse procession" or build a structure like a decorative fence on the wrong spot and claim the land as your own.

No, they can't. If they are discovered by the true owner to be there before they have lived there the necessary period of time (which varies from state to state from about 10 years to 40 years) the true owner may eject them from the property and file a complaint to the police for the trespass and any damage done to the property. So they take a real risk in doing it. They have to have to wait many years and during that time they are at risk of getting booted out and perhaps criminally charged, too.

Also technically the law defines theft as taking something with the intention of not giving it back or something to that effect. Well as long as you were willing to give it back if asked by a cop or the company, would that still be considered stealing?

If you only give it back because you got caught for the theft, that won't help you. If it did, every thief who was caught would just give back the goods and avoid criminal prosecution and no one would ever end up in jail or prison for theft. Yet our jails and prisons are filled with thieves. So that idea doesn't work.

I saw a youtube video that this guy was filming and angered some security guard in front of a building so he snatched his camera and went inside the building. The Camera owner called the cops and they came and got the camera back for the person but refuses to arrest the security guard because they claimed " since he gave it back, it would not considered stealing" I can show you the video if you would like.

Cops are not lawyers. They also have a lot of discretion in how they do their jobs. So the fact that one cop let a guy go tells you nothing really about the law in that state on theft. The guy could be guilty but the cop either didn't know the law well or simply decided to exercise his discretion and not make the arrest. Because of those possibilities the video would not tell you anything about the law. That video would certainly not help you if you were charged for stealing the scooter. That video isn't law. That video is not even about abandoned property.

Florida law specifically says taking abandoned property for yourself is a theft offense and instead requires you to notify the police and tell them you'd like to claim it if you want it. And for the scooters, there is no chance the police won't find the rightful owner. Again, it would be a waste of your time.

 

[stealth2]

Oh, Boner Boy. Have you nothing better to do?

 

[FlyingRon]

I thought it depended on whether there was fringe on the flag or not.

 

[stealth2]

I thought it depended on whether there was fringe on the flag or not.

Then it would need to be a surrey. With a fringe on top. In Oklahoma. With singing cowboys.