As a seasoned crypto investor and one who has followed the saga of James Howells with great interest, I must say his latest move against the Newport City Council is not only commendable but also long overdue. Having lost my own modest fortune in a series of ill-timed trades and missed opportunities, I understand the frustration that comes with the loss of digital assets. However, losing an entire hard drive full of 8,000 Bitcoins due to carelessness is an extraordinary case, one that should be treated exceptionally.
In simpler terms, after many years of failed efforts to recover a hard drive containing Bitcoins, James Howells, a resident from Britain, is now taking legal action against the Newport City Council because he buried it in a landfill by mistake.
According to a report by WalesOnline on October 12th, Howells is trying to either receive compensation or gain the right to dig up the landfill in order to retrieve a hard drive containing approximately 8,000 Bitcoins (BTC), which are now worth over $647 million.
The legal action, which has garnered international attention, comes after years of repeated refusals by the Newport City Council to allow Howells to search for his hard drive.
According to Howells, his attempts at amicable and businesslike discussions with the council were turned down, forcing him into a situation where he has to resort to taking legal measures.
Howells’ argument
Speaking exclusively to CryptoMoon, Howells voiced his displeasure about the council’s decision not to engage with him, highlighting his efforts to settle the issue peacefully by approaching them in a conciliatory manner.
“The council has been refusing me permission to search, or even refusing to agree to an in-person meeting with the council leaders so that we can discuss the situation in good faith for over 10 years now.”
Regrettably, since they didn’t cooperate honestly, I found myself with no other option than to initiate legal actions against them,” he clarified.
According to Howells, the council’s environmental worries—which they used to reject his excavation application—are baseless.
According to Howells, he has presented several counterarguments against the stance of Newport City Council. He asserts that the council may have violated environmental rules over the past few years, a claim he supports with “conclusively verified evidence” from independent sources.
“If you look at the Natural Resources Wales compliance reports for the previous four years, Newport City Council has been breaching their landfill permit by leaching arsenic, asbestos, ammonium nitrate and methane gasses into the local environment.”
As per Howells’ suggestion, the excavation and cleanup process he proposes would not only recover the hard drive but also decontaminate the polluted landfill site without incurring any expenses for the local council or taxpayers.
According to Howells, he’s hired FLI Group – a company known for handling landfill cleanup projects – to oversee this task. Notably, FLI Group has previously worked on numerous landfill restoration projects across the United Kingdom, one being in Merthyr Tydfil. They are experienced with environmental regulations and boast a strong history of effectively managing landfill remediation tasks.
Understanding UK laws
According to Howells, under British legal framework, Bitcoin and similar digital assets are considered personal possessions, which means he has the authority to reclaim his stolen hard drive containing these assets.
He pointed out that the actual hard drive itself holds no value, but it’s the digital content, the intellectual property (the crucial data like private keys), which makes it valuable,” he said.
“There is a difference under UK law between the two types of property. My claim argues that both the physical property and digital intellectual property still remain with my outright ownership, therefore under the law I should be given permission to recover said property. Or if the land owner continues to refuse me access to recover my legally owned property, then they should compensate me for the value of said property.”
City council responds
Newport City Council, however, has stood firm in its stance.
On October 11th, a council representative confirmed to CryptoMoon that, as things stand now with our environmental permits, the digging up of the landfill is not an option.
“The council has told Mr. Howells multiple times that excavation is not possible under our environmental permit and that such work would have a huge negative environmental impact on the surrounding area.”
The council discarded Howells’ mentions of environmental compliance concerns as an effort to divert attention from what they perceive as a fundamentally flawed argument. Moreover, addressing these recurring inquiries has taken up valuable time and resources for the council and taxpayers that could have been allocated towards improving local services instead.
The representative stated that our monitoring and reporting system has no connection with Mr. Howells’ assertion. In fact, they consider the reference to it as merely an effort to divert focus from a substantially flawed claim, which they are strongly countering.
The council is still the sole entity permitted to perform activities at the landfill site, and they firmly believe that the dangers connected with digging are significantly greater than any possible advantages.
Legalities ahead
On December 3rd, it will be determined in court if Newport City Council is obligated to grant Howells access to the landfill or provide him with compensation equivalent to the value of the Bitcoin he has lost.
Howells maintains optimism about a positive resolution, emphasizing that his legal claim to recover the digital assets is his most compelling point.
“My situation has not changed my views on cryptocurrencies,” Howells said.
“I still promote and advocate Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, and I fully expect it will continue to succeed into the future both in terms of worldwide adoption and market price.”
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2024-10-16 18:00