| Volume Number: 30
Category(s): PRISONS AND PRISONERS |
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| Opinion Issued May 23, 2014 | |
| ROY F. HILLBERRY III | |
| VS. | |
| REGIONAL JAIL AUTHORITY | |
| (CC-12-0365) | |
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Claimant appeared pro se. Stephen R. Connolly, Assistant Attorney General, for Respondent. |
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| PER CURIAM:
Claimant, Roy Hillberry III (#55498), an inmate at Mount Olive Correctional Complex, brought this claim to recover the value of certain items of personal property that he alleges were converted by Respondent while housed at North Central Regional Jail. The Claimant testified at the hearing of this matter that upon his transfer to Mount Olive Correctional Complex, he was gifted a gold necklace with a charm by his fiancé. One day Respondent was conducting a cell extraction and Claimant placed his necklace (which was allowed for religious purposes) in an envelope in his cell. Claimant alleges that during the extraction, Respondent retrieved Claimant’s necklace as contraband and subsequently destroyed it. Claimant argues that a bailment was created between himself and Respondent, and that Respondent is liable for failing to return his personal property to him. It is the law in West Virginia that the creation of a bailment situation “imposes upon the bailee the obligation to exercise reasonable and ordinary care for the safety of the property so delivered,” Barnette v. Casey, 124 W. Va. 143. This Court has held that a bailment exists when Respondent records the personal property of an inmate and takes it for storage purposes, and then has no satisfactory explanation for not returning it. Page v. Division of Corrections, 23 Ct. Cl. 238 (2000); Heard v. Division of Corrections, 21 Ct. Cl. 151 (1997). Here, Claimant has failed to establish that he did possess a necklace and gold charm because he has not provided the Court with receipts or other documentation. Claimant has not provided the Court with evidence that the property was inventoried or that it even existed. Therefore, the Court cannot recommend an award in this claim. Accordingly, the Court is of the opinion to, and does hereby, deny Claimant’s claim. Claim disallowed. |
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| Summary: |
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