PROPERTY (897-2) PROFESSOR BRATT

SAMPLE EXAM QUESTION 2

This question appeared on the May, 1980, final examination in Property. It was worth 7 points. The question can be answered in approximately 20 minutes.

X parked her car in a parking garage owned the Central Parking System. The parking garage is the type where an attendant gives the driver a claim check, parks the car for the driver and keeps the keys. When X returned a few days later to claim her car, the car was not to be found. X complained to the attendant who professed no knowledge of what happened to the car, but offered to return her keys. X sued Central Parking System for he value of the car. What result and why?

PROPERTY (807-2) PROFESSOR BRATT

SAMPLE EXAM QUESTION #3

This question appeared on the May, 1981, final examination in Property. It was worth 10 points. The question can be answered in approximately 30 minutes.

OWNER was in the hospital to have an operation performed for a brain tumor. OWNER told DEAR FRIEND who was visiting him that OWNER had buried one hundred gold coins in OWNER's garden under the azalea plant. OWNER said to DEAR FRIEND, "If I do not survive the operation, the gold coins are yours." The operation was performed successfully but a week after the operation, while OWNER was convalescing in the hospital, he had a heart attack and died. DEAR FRIEND then dug up the coins. OWNER'S ADMINISTRATOR filed suit to recover the gold coins for OWNER's estate. DEAR FRIEND's answer claims that the coins belong to her because OWNER gave them to her.

How should a court resolve this law suit and why?