Civil Rights
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Everyone wants a piece of Paul Walker, or rather his cars.
Last week, lawyers representing the Paul Walker's family and estate filed a lawsuit against Richard Taylor, who formerly worked for Walker, for theft by conversion of Walker's many cars.
When he was alive, Paul Walker was a car enthusiast (thus explaining all the Fast and Furious movies). Walker had a collection of over 30 cars, including several 1993 BMW M3s, one 2008 BMW M3, one 2006 Crown Victoria, one 2004 GMC Truck, one 2011 Porsche GTSR3, and many more.
Richard Taylor was employed by Walker to care for the cars and manage paperwork. Within 24 hours of Walker's tragic car accident death, Taylor allegedly sent people to Walker's Valencia warehouse to take the prized cars. Representatives for Walker's estate also claim that Taylor sold some off the cars and are illegally hiding certificates of ownership for 13 of the cars.
The lawsuit accuses Taylor of wrongful conversion. Despite the fancy wording, conversion is essentially like theft. It is the taking of and asserting control over another's property. The elements of conversion are:
Here, the cars belonged to Paul Walker. When Walker died, the cars became part of his estate. So, Walker's estate does have legal ownership of the cars. The lawsuit accuses Taylor of removing the car from the Valencia warehouse, selling some of the cars, and withholding certificates of ownership on others. The estate claims that Taylor did not have permission to remove the cars. Because Taylor allegedly stole the cars, Walker's estate lost thousands of dollars.
The lawsuit demands that Taylor return the cars or pays the value of the sold cars and asks for unspecified punitive damages.
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