Say i had a burglary some time ago and while watching Storage Wars I see some of my belongings being in said locker that was just sold.
And for sake of this thread, I had filed a police report and my items would have an identification mark on them and I did not collect any insurance money on stolen items.
OK.
" i had a burglary some time ago and while watching Storage Wars I see some of my belongings being in said locker that was just sold.
And for sake of this thread, I had filed a police report and my items would have an identification mark on them and I did not collect any insurance money on stolen items", he said.
Is there a question?
Some places have a statute of limitations IIRC or recovering some stolen goods, if bought in good faith and not deliberately hidden during ownership. Also, doesn’t possession of stolen goods require some sort of knowledge they are stolen? Or can anyone be charged? If there’s a dispute over ownership, that would be a civil suit, unless you plan to hire OJ to retrieve it for you.
IANAL, but if your question is “can I recover my property?” I think that generally answer would be yes. I’m sure there could be exceptions. Contact the law enforcment agency that you filed your police report with, and provide them with the evidence you saw on “Storage Wars” and let them chase it down.
Yes, question would be, Could I get my property back??
Might the legal recourse be to include paying the one whom purchased items by have a right to buy said property back??
A good friends father had lost a Model 1897 Winchester shotgun in a burglary a number of years back and filed all the reports. A few years later wanting to replace that shotgun there was a DNR action where the state was selling off confiscated items seized and a '97 shotgun was listed on the bill. everyone had a chance to preview items and he discovered that the shotgun was his. He was asked to prove it and he was able to go home and get the police report that listed the serial number and found that he had to buy it anyway.
Long story shortened, he lost the same shotgun in a home invasion burglary several years later and although the elder man has passed, it has never been recovered, by anyone who cares enough to return to the family that is.
Can we get some cites here please?
This happened to somebody I know. He bought a used car in a completely above-board fashion from a dealer. The car was later identified as having been stolen. My friend wasn’t guilty of any crime and as far as I know neither was the dealer. But the car legally still belonged to its original owner and he got it back.
There is a caveat to the above. If you were reimbursed by your insurance company for your loss, the stolen items belong to the insurance company, not you.
See this:
http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/spencer/spencers-art-law-journal5-7-10.asp
Mostly discusses the fight between the estate and the insurance company over stolen art; recovered many years later and now worth substantially more. The key is that the insurance company may not have taken ownership but their interest is “subrogation”, i.e. acting on behalf of(??). Thus in one case, the more valuable art is returned to the rightful owner, who must reimburse the insurance company (without interest!).
Also note in answer to the OP, there is a register of stolen fine art that helps recover items decades later.
The key is that unlike art, most other items when recovered may not even match the amount the insurance company paid and would have to be paid back to get possession back. So, the item is left for the insurance company to sell for whatever they can get.
I think the OP covered that.
as with so many other legal questions, the question as phrased is impossible to answer without knowing the state, province or country where this is supposed to have occurred. Laws of property, theft, and bona fida purchasers for value can vary tremendously from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.