Thursday, March 13, 2014

Refresher on Bailment

I'm reading a 7th Circuit opinion concerning the bankruptcy case of a commercial livestock operation, In re Mississippi Valley Livestock, Inc. Without getting into the facts or the holding of the case, I just thought I would pass along the following succinct definition of a bailment relationship in case anybody is interested:
Under Illinois law, “bailment is ‘the delivery of goods for some purpose, upon a contract, express or implied, that after the purpose has been fulfilled [the goods] shall be redelivered to the bailor, or otherwise dealt with according to his directions, or kept till he reclaims them.’” Kirby v. Chi. City Bank &  Trust Co., 403  N.E.2d  720,  723 (Ill. App.  Ct.  1980);  see also Berglund v. Roosevelt Univ., 310 N.E.2d 773, 775 (Ill. App. Ct. 1974) (“Bailment is defined as the rightful possession  of  goods  by  one  who  is  not  an owner.”).  Although bailment takes  many  forms,  the  “characteristics common to  every bailment  are the intent to create a bailment, delivery of possession of the bailed items, and the acceptance of the items by the bailee.” Id. at 775–76.

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