First American Bank, N.A. v. District Of Columbia

583 A.2d 993 (1990)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P employed Ronald Armstead as a courier whose duties included making deliveries between the bank's various branch offices and the main office. Armstead parked D's station wagon near the entrance of a Branch in violation of 'No Parking Rush Hour Zone' signs, which were in clear view. Four locked bank dispatch bags, marked as such, which Armstead had just picked up from four different branches, were in the rear luggage compartment of the station wagon and in plain view of anyone looking into the vehicle. The dispatch bags contained checks and other valuable documents. Armstead had received tickets for illegal parking at this particular spot on at least five prior occasions and had been warned against future violations by traffic enforcement personnel. D did not reprimand or discipline Armstead, nor did it dock his pay, for the parking tickets. A parking control aide approached the bank's station wagon and began writing up a ticket for illegal parking. A tow truck owned by Transportation Management, Inc. (TMI) arrived and while the parking control aide was completing the ticket the tow truck operator was simultaneously preparing to tow the car. Armstead was alerted and carrying a dispatch bag, ran out to the vehicle, and told the tow truck operator that, as the driver of the vehicle, he was prepared to drive the vehicle away immediately. The tow truck operator ignored his request to return the vehicle. Armstead asked that he be allowed at least to remove the dispatch bags from the vehicle. The tow truck operator ignored this request and drove away. Upon arriving at impoundment, the dispatch bags were still inside the luggage compartment of the vehicle. The lot attendant found all the doors locked and so certified on the same crane form. Ninety minutes later the bank paid for the vehicle's release from the impoundment lot. The driver's door was unlocked and one dispatch bag missing. The value of the checks and other papers contained in the dispatch bag was determined to be $107,561. D was able to recoup $57,616.71 of its loss at a cost of $10,555. P sued Ds for breach of bailment and conversion of its property. The court ruled that Ds were gratuitous bailees and therefore liable only for gross negligence and P failed in that proof plus P was precluded from recovering because it was both contributorily negligent and assumed the risk. The trial court ruled that there was no conversion because the initial seizure of the vehicle was lawful. P appealed.