A British judge ruled against a man who wanted to excavate a landfill where he says a hard drive containing access to thousands of bitcoins was accidentally dumped 11 years ago.
Since 2013, James Howells has been hoping to recover a laptop hard drive that he says contains the private keys to the cryptocurrency he says he mined in 2009. Arce wrote about it at the time, thing worth noting That the value of one Bitcoin had recently increased by more than $1,000, making 7,500 Bitcoins worth $7.5 million.
The reported number of bitcoins has changed slightly, with Howells now saying he lost 8,000 bitcoins. bitcoin price exceeded $100,000 As of last month and last Friday, it was worth more than $95,636, or $765 million for 8,000 bitcoins.
High Court Judge Keysar Casey issued his order ruling last week, taking the defendant's side Howells v. Newport City CouncilHowells has no realistic prospect of success at trial, the judge ruled. Howells sought “an order that the defendant either deliver up the hard drive or allow his team of experts to excavate the landfill to find it, and (alternatively) pay compensation equal to the value of the bitcoins he now has access to.” does not make. “
Landfill authority owns the garbage
The council said excavating the landfill site would release harmful substances into the environment, exposing residents to “potentially serious risks that raise public health issues and environmental concerns,” the decision said.
The judge found “no reasonable grounds for bringing this case”, saying “if it went to trial it has no real prospect of success and there is no other compelling reason why it should be dealt with at trial.” Must go.” He granted summary judgment for the defendant dismissing the claim.
The ruling cites the Pollution Control Act 1974, which states that “anything given to the authority by any other person in the course of using the facilities shall belong to the authority and may be dealt with accordingly.” Howells “submitted that section 14(6)(c) merely says that anything so distributed shall belong to the Authority, but does not say that it shall cease to belong to its former owner,” the ruling said. The judge dissented, writing that “the words 'shall be of authority' are unqualified and unrepresentative.”
The judge found no reason to determine that the defendant's possession of the hard drive was “unconscionable” under the law. “In my view there would be no realistic possibility of concluding that the defendant's retention of the hard drive was unreasonable. The defendant was not keeping it for profit or because he wanted to. He was keeping it because Because it was buried in a landfill.” It is said in the decision.
statute of limitations
The ruling said the claim is also barred by the six-year statute of limitations because Howells “knew of the material facts of his claim by November 2013 but did not commence proceedings until May 2024.”
The judge did not need to rule on whether the hard drive actually contained access to the bitcoins, saying that “the only relevant issue in this case concerns ownership of the hard drive and rights of access to it.” Howells sought access to the landfill site in Newport, Wales from November 2013, but was refused by local authorities. He says the hard drive is 2½ inches in size and contains a wallet.data file that contains a private key that can enable access to Bitcoins.
The city council said the excavation would breach the terms of its license with NRW (the natural resources body for Wales), pose a health and safety risk to workers, and risk damage from ground movement during or after excavation work. , and would prevent the Council from being “discharged”.[ing] “It has statutory waste disposal functions during site excavation.”