- Thanks to CuriosityStream for keeping LegalEagle in the air. By clicking the link in the description, you'll also get Nebula for free, a streaming platform made
by and for creators like me. You know how normal people behave? Maybe you're one of them. You can hear a legal hypothetical and then you can disregard it for, say, the rest of your entire life. I'm not one of those people. If I hear a legal hypothetical, I'm going to run down
every single permutation and every single applicable
law I can think of until I have an answer. It's sort of like how Lewis
Black when he overhead, "If it weren't for my horse, "I never would have
gotten through college," and then that's all he could think of for the entire rest of his day. Something like that
happened to me recently when I came upon a Reddit
post that asked the question, can I sue my beekeeper neighbor? Apparently, the beekeeper's bees were stealing the neighbor's pollen and turning it into honey. The question was also shared on the popular social media
hive known as Twitter. And if you don't think that this video is going to be filled with
all kinds of bee puns, you are sadly mistaken, my friend. I've covered bee law before and I'm not afraid to go back again. - Objection! - Oh, the non-lawyer makes an objection. Now of course the beekeeper neighbor sounds like the setup for a horror movie about a man who roams the neighborhood in a beekeeper outfit, terrorizing children on Halloween with one of those little
smoke canister things. I'm not exactly sure how
he would kill people, but, you know, that's for the
movie execs to figure out. And I know that this would be a straight-to-streaming knock
off of "Friday the 13th," but this redittor's problem is more basic than a serial-killing beekeeper. He writes, "Every day I
see my neighbor's bees "flying around my garden, "stealing the pollen or
nectar from my flowers. "Then the bees go back to my neighbor "and creates honey. "My neighbor then harvests the honey "and sells it at the
farmers' market for a profit. "I have never received so much "as a jar of honey as compensation, "and every day my neighbor's bees "trespass and steal my flowers. "I was stung once when I was a child, "so I know how dangerous bees can be. "The way I see it, "this is equivalent to a
person's dog coming into my yard "to steal balls or tools." You know, as dogs do. "Then gives it back to his owner "who then sells it for profit. "Do I have legal grounds to sue? "What type of things
should I begin documenting "in order to prepare for a legal battle? "What would be a fair settlement amount "if my neighbor doesn't
want to take this to court? "Thanks for the help." This is so ridiculous. So, does this redditor have the right to sue the neighbor and his pesky bees for the return of his extremely,
in quotes, valuable pollen? Let's find out. (upbeat rock music) Now, as you may know, there are 20,000 species
of bees in the world. You may want to tell
bees to just buzz off, but wild bees play a serious role in making sure humans get to eat. Bees pollinate plants that
are not capable of reproducing without the aid of bees. The plants grow up to
produce fruit and vegetables that we eat. The western honey bee is the biggest pollinator in the world. Many people domesticate
and breed honey bees for exactly this purpose. It's a whole cottage industry. Beekeepers are sort of the hired guns of the agricultural world. They are hired and they
bring a truckload of bees to help pollinate certain orchards. In fact, the demand for almond milk has led to an increased demand for bees. Now American beekeepers have
had great financial success renting out their hive to
commercial almond producers. However, success comes at a steep cost. 50 billion bees were
annihilated in just a few months during the winter of 2018 and 2019. The culprit, as you may know, stems from the herbicides
and pesticides that are used, as well as the intense
environment for producing almonds. The bees are forced to
work in a mono culture rather than a bio-diverse environment where bees naturally thrive. The worker bees are stressed out, used up, and ultimately die in
what one scientist called war-like circumstances. He said, "It's like
sending the bees to war. "Many don't come back." - Buzz, buzz, buzz,
buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz. (helmets whoosh) - Now I know, I know, you didn't come here to listen to a monologue
about the plight of bees who work in sweatshops. You wanna know about bee law. Now there is such a thing as bee law? Well, not exactly, but
there is a body of law that deals with injury or damage caused by wild and domesticated animals. If you were wondering
when lawyers actually deal with the law of wild animals, you might actually be surprised to know that that's in the first
year of law school. There are large sections of
both property and tort law that deal specifically with wild animals, even though few lawyers, if any, actually deal with wild
animals on a regular basis. So let's break down this
redditor's question. First of all, he's
claiming to be very angry that bees steal pollen from his flowers, which the bees then use to create nectar. In his view, his neighbor is therefore unreasonably enriched by beekeeping. He's saying all this despite the real role that bees play in
keeping us fed and happy. What a buzz kill. (drum music)
(eye tinkles) Anyway, under the law, his chances of successfully
suing for damages over the neighbor's bees are slim to none. If there is a local law that makes keeping bees
on the property illegal, then the owner of the bees might be liable for certain acts or omissions
or regular nuisance. If bees attacked the neighbor and the neighbor wasn't allowed to have bees on the
property to begin with, then that might be negligence per se. But obviously that isn't
the situation here. Realistically, the man can
argue three legal theories for a lawsuit. Conversion, negligence,
and strict liability. So let's start with conversion. The person wants to sue for theft. That is known in civil
courts as conversion. Conversion is when
someone does the following without your consent. They take property and don't return it. They sell your property. They make substantial
changes to the property, such as cutting down trees. And I'm definitely gonna get to the cutting down tress
hypotheticals on Reddit in just a little while 'cause you guys are crazy for tree law. Or they damage or misuse your
property without consent. The elements of conversion, the things a plaintiff must
prove to win their case, is that the person has a
legal right to the property. That means that they own it. The defendant intentionally interfered with possession of the property. And the defendant's actions
caused the plaintiff to lose the property. To prove conversion under these facts, the guy who's so buzzed off about the bees would have a tough time. First, he'd need to show
that he has a legal right to the property. Let's assume that he owns the flowers. But in step two, he may have a problem. He needs to show that the neighbor purposely interfered with his
possession of the flowers. We can't know the intent of the bees unless, of course, they are
voiced by Jerry Seinfeld. - You like jazz? - And if we know anything about bees, we know that they don't
like to take direction. - You know, I don't
think these are flowers. - Should we tell him? - I think he knows. - I don't know what prompted
them to make this movie, but it didn't exactly have a lot of buzz for a sequel, sadly. In our conflict, the intent that matters is that of the neighbor. Did he own the bees in question? Can the man prove it? If so, can we infer that the
beekeeper wanted the bees to fly next door to pilfer the pollen? And by now you see the
difficulties with this argument. And the other element is proving damages. Did the bees cause damage or injury or a loss to the plaintiff? Although the man does a
decent job or making the case, he said that the neighbor
eventually makes money by selling the honey. That's also a difficult argument. No harm was done to the flowers. In fact, you could argue
that the plants were enhanced by the bees' attention. People pay good money for having
bees come to their property to pollinate the different flowers there. And what about his hypothetical, "The way I see it, this is
equivalent to a person's dog "coming to my yard to
steal balls or tools, "and gives it back to the owner "who then sells it for profit"? And he has a point. Under the law, if a person can prove that the neighbor sent
the dog into the yard for the purpose of stealing the tools, he could have a claim for conversion. In fact, in many states
there are already laws that prohibit a predator dog from trespassing and hurting or killing livestock on that yard. And there's even a common law rule that allows people to
kill dogs if necessary to protect the property. You see an example of this in the famous scene in
"To Kill a Mockingbird." (gun fires) But is this situation with
the bees directly analogous? Not really. The man has a lot to prove. The ownership of the bees, the intent on the part of the neighbor, theft of something in the
natural world, like pollen, and actual damages. Almost all of those are
going to be a huge problem in a claim for conversion. So let's talk about the second
cause of action, negligence. The legal definition of negligence is a failure to behave
with a level of care that someone of ordinary
prudence would have exercised under the circumstances
where someone has a duty to act that way. A person of ordinary prudence is legalese for a person who behaves appropriately. This is called the
reasonable person standard and, as you can guess, it's not always easy to determine
whether a person is acting like a reasonable average human being. Negligent conduct may consist
of an act or a failure to act when there is a duty to do so. If the person doesn't
have a legal duty to act, then they can't be negligent. And in general people
don't have a duty to act for the benefit of others, unless the circumstances are such that they give rise to a duty. When might you have a
duty to act appropriately? Well, driving, for example. If you run a red light
and strike another car, a court could find you
liable for negligence. This is because you had a responsibility to act in a way that poses
no danger to other motorists. When do you not have a duty to act? Well, a rescue, for example. Generally, you don't have a
legal duty to rescue someone, even if you're walking on the beach and you see a stranger drowning. There's just no general
duty to risk your own life to save the life of someone else's. So let's talk about the legal elements to a negligence claim. Keep in mind that the law
varies from state to state, but most jurisdictions require a person to prove four things to show negligence. Number one, the existence of a legal duty that the defendant owed to the plaintiff. Two, the defendant's breach of that duty. Three, plaintiff's
sufferance of an injury. And four, proof that
the defendant's breach caused the injury. If an animal owner has acted reasonably to prevent someone else
from being injured, the plaintiff probably won't
be able to recover damages. Now is there some negligence
claim to bee had here? Well, maybe, but probably not. He would have a much stronger case if the bees stung him or caused
some damage to his property. There aren't many
published negligence cases involving bees or even bee stings. Usually people aren't stung
unless the bees are provoked, and bees exist in the wild. But one exception was a Miami
Beach apartment building that had a massive
beehive inside the walls. When the property manager went
to check out the apartments, she got stung and went to the ER. When maintenance workers found the hive, honey had started to drip down the walls and through the ceiling. Before the building owners cleaned it up, a tenant slipped on the honey
and fell down the stairs. This chain of events left
the apartment building owners with several different lawsuits. The cases eventually settled
for a combined $1.4 million. But what's important here is that the Miami Beach apartment building knew they had a dangerous
situation on their hands. The beehive had been discovered, the building manager wound up in the ER, and honey was literally
dripping all over the floor. Here, the building
owners had a duty to act. A building owner must act
as a reasonable landlord towards the tenants. But here they didn't do
anything about the problem. The tenant who slipped in the honey has a typical slip-and-fall
negligence case. But, once again, the poster's question doesn't quite measure up. Nobody had a clear duty to stop the bees from flying in the air
to a different property. And the man can't show that
the neighbor breached a duty unless there are other circumstances like a law outlawing
beekeepers in the neighborhood. And the man would have
trouble showing injury. His plants weren't really harmed. If anything, he got a benefit. And since there's no injury, there's likely no monetary damages either. So let's talk about the third
and final cause of action. There's one more theory to pursue. It's called strict liability. Strict liability is automatic liability. That means that the defendant is liable regardless of the defendant's intent or what they knew or should
have known at the time. If something happened and that gives rise to strict liability, you're strictly liable. If strict liability applies, the defendant must pay
if his or her conduct caused the plaintiff's injuries. So, for example, in a
products liability case, a company who manages a defective product that injures someone will be liable for the
plaintiff's injuries regardless of whether the company knew there was some serious
or dangerous defect, because products liability
is strict liability. So, for example, in 2016, Samsung's Galaxy 7
cellphone had a battery flaw that caused them to spontaneously explode. Class action lawsuits have been filed on the strict liability theory because the cellphone is a product. Strict liability also
applies if someone creates an abominably dangerous condition or performs ultra-hazardous activities, causing injury to another person. So if you are driving a
semi-truck full of fireworks, maintaining a nuclear power
plan, or storing dynamite, these are the kind of
ultra-hazardous activities that you'll be strictly
liable if someone is injured regardless of whether you were negligent and regardless of whether you knew that there was a problem or not. Some jurisdictions impose strict liability if a pet attacks or bites someone. So if you have a pet circus
tiger who mauls your neighbor, you might get in trouble. Be sure to check your local laws before becoming the next Siegfried & Roy. (man yelling) States which impose strict liability for injuries caused by animals often make a distinction
between domesticated animals and wild animals. Remember I talked about what
you learn in law school? Well, for some reason, we
spend a huge amount of time on the law of wild animals. A wild animal is normally
considered to be one that is, quote, "Not by custom "devoted to the services of mankind "in the time and place that it is kept." People who own wild animals
are subject to strict liability for injury caused to persons or property by animals in their possession. In contrast, owners of
domesticated animals are generally only liable
if they are negligent. Whether an animal is wild or domesticated varies from state to state. Take the case of an aggressive duck. - That's it. No more Mr. Nice Duck. - No, no, not that one. This one. A woman sued a neighbor in Oregon after she was ambushed
by an aggressive duck. The sketchy duck, whose
name is Lolita Rose, allegedly had attacked people before. The woman fell and broke her
wrist and injured her shoulder. Oregon law applies this
strict liability rule for injuries caused by domestic animals. However, under Oregon law, the owner has to be aware that the animal has a propensity for danger. In practice, this means
that most animals get one free nip or bite or attack. This is actually a common law and you hear often about
the one-free-bite rule. How else would a person
know that their pet duck or cat or bat has a propensity for danger? Well, legally, the plaintiff has to show that the animal has injured
someone in the past. To prove a theory of negligence, the plaintiff must show
that the owner was negligent or had knowledge that the
duck was quite dangerous and that the duck had
caused the woman's injuries. Now in the case of the duck Lolita Rose, the plaintiff said that the duck's owner failed to properly maintain control of her domesticated animal, failed to warn neighbors
about the dangerous duck in their midst, and failed to keep the duck
contained on her property. She alleged both strict
liability and negligence as theories of liability. Now, returning to our bee dilemma, the first question we have to answer is whether the bees are wild or domesticated. The law may differ on
this from state to state, but for the sake of argument let's say that the bees are domesticated, since they are raised by the neighbor for commercial purposes. If this happened in Oregon, there could be liability on the basis that the neighbor knew the bees were un-bee-lievably mean and dangerous. But this theory of liability breaks down because the bees didn't do
anything dangerous or hazardous, or even mean, for that matter. They didn't swarm the man
or attack his children or kill his dog. They just simply bugged him. Now all the bees did is exactly
what bees are meant to do. Romance the flowers. (upbeat music)
(hoses thudding) And we talked about this briefly, but maybe it's actually
a boon to the neighbor to have his flowers pollinated. If that's the case, it might actually be that the neighbor who claims that the pollen was stolen actually owes money to the neighbor. Under a theory of quantum
meruit or promissory estoppel, if this gave rise to a contract, if he knew he was getting a benefit and knew that the neighbor
would have charged him for that service, maybe he's the one that
owes money to his neighbor. So my advice to the original
redditor is pretty simple. Just ask your neighbor for a
jar of honey and let it bee. Now if you're the type of person that loves to get du-bee-ous
legal advice from Reddit, you'll love the Nebula and
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everything is just illegal. So click on this playlist,
and I'll see you in court.
"You guys are crazy about tree law"
I feel personally attacked.
R2: As the video explains, the person who grows the flowers most likely benefits from the presence of the bees, which commercial growers often pay for so they can have their flowers pollinated.
Mr. Stone goes on to cover the three potentially applicable legal theories (conversion, negligence, and strict liability), and says that without something else involved (like a neighborhood-wide policy against beekeeping, or incidents in which the bees stung or swarmed people or pets), the flower-grower has no case.
How about we make a group effort to ask him to cover the shady cops postiing over at r/legaladvice?
Bee law > bird law
Let's say you and I go toe to toe on bee law and we'll see who comes out the victor.
Maybe I am naive but I am really not convinced that post was not an elaborate troll.
Snapshots:
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