Vanessa Denai owned forty acres of land in rural Louisiana. On the property were a 1,600-square-foot house and a metal barn. Denai met Lance Finney, who had been seeking a small plot of rural property to rent. After several meetings, Denai invited Finney to live on a corner of her land in exchange for Finney’s assistance in cutting wood and tending her property. Denai agreed to store Finney’s sailboat in her barn.
With Denai’s consent, Finney constructed a concrete and oak foundation on Denai’s property and purchased a 190-square-foot dome from Dome Baja for $3,395. The dome was shipped by Doty Express, a transportation company licensed to serve the public. When it arrived, Finney installed the dome frame and fabric exterior so that the dome was detachable from the foundation. A year after Finney installed the dome, Denai wrote Finney a note stating, “I’ve decided to give you four acres of land surrounding your dome as drawn on this map.” This gift violated no local land-use restrictions. Using the information presented in the chapter, answer the following questions.
- Is the dome real property or personal property? Explain.
- Is Denai’s gift of land to Finney a gift causa mortis or a gift inter vivos?
- What type of bailment relationship was created when Denai agreed to store Finney’s boat? What degree of care was Denai required to exercise in storing the boat?
- What standard of care applied to the shipment of the dome by Doty Express?
Debate This:
Common carriers should not be able to limit their liability.
