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Re: The Fight for Truth, Justice & the American Way, in Monahans!

Hello Steve and list,

I hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was a bit extended, but I'm not
complaining.

Steve, this is a worthy cause you've undertaken and I wish you luck, but
I felt that I should point out a few problems with your examples so you
can avoid painting yourself into a corner.

First off, it's of no import whether the Monahans city statutes mention
meteorites, treasure hunting, etc. or not. I doubt they mention murder
or bank robbery either, so the statutes of the State of Texas will be of
concern to you. Since Texas has many meteorite finds, there may be
specific cases you can draw on for your argument. Barring those, you can
look for cases involving fossil or Native American artifact finds.

The story of the $500,000 found in the briefcase turned out well for the
finders, but that was decided under the laws governing lost and found
personal property. As long as the correct procedures were followed of
notifying the authorities and advertising the find, the material would
revert to the finders unless a bona fide claim is made by the loser
within the prescribed period of time. (Who in their right mind would
admit carrying half-a-million in cash?) That may even go all the way
back to English common law. The county probably thought the size of the
find would sway the decision in their favor. Justice prevailed, but it
is an entiely different situation from yours.

I suspect the strongest argument that can be made will be where the
specimen was actually located when found and how well that is documented
- hopefully you have photos documenting the specimen with the immediate
area in view. This might come down to your surveyors vs. the city
surveyors and that will only define who owns the property at the fall
site. The Monahans Seven will still have to come up with an overwhelming
argument as to why they should have the specimen and not the property
owner, public or private. It would be great in the fall was on private
property and at least one of the Seven is related to the property owner.

Study the Texas case law well on relevant cases. Again, I wish you luck,
and hope you will keep us all informed of the developments.

Gene
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