Lorton Meteorite: “Star” War! Not a Legal Battle

The Lorton Meteorite ownership battle is heating up like the big finale in Star Wars. Except this “star war” is over a little black rock! In my opinion this whole issue is moot. This meteorite ownership fight is becoming more of a PR war than a legal battle. Yet the war rages on in the doctors minds, the media, and in a courtroom.

On January 18th, 2010 a 208 gram stone meteorite smashed through the roof of a Lorton, VA doctors office and ended up on an examination room floor. now there’s a huge fight over who owns the rock.

It’s obvious (in my opinion) that the doctors are spinning this in the media and fighting this as a PR battle against the landlords trying only to gain public support which is essentially applying pressure to the powers that be to let the meteorite remain with the Smithsonian.

They’re blatantly using the Haitian relief effort in a very underhanded way to smear the landlords, painting them in a bad light. Basically implying the landlords are bad people for wanting a meteorite they already own, after the doctors tried to donate it to the Smithsonian! “Oh my word, the mean nasty landlords won’t let this meteorite be donated!” “Oh goodness what terrible people them landlords are for not allowing the money to go to the needy in Haiti. How terrible!” “Bad landlords!”

Don’t get me wrong, I want to see the money go to the relief effort just as much as the next guy, but DON’T use it as a club to beat the landlord down with.

There is no “ownership battle” but rather a PR war going on, in which the Mutlus aren’t fighting very publicly at all.

The doctors are on the other hand, very public with their accusations, and are trying very hard to apply pressure and try this case in the public using the media to gain public sympathy for their “efforts”.

They have egg on their faces because they jumped the gun by jumping in front of the news cameras in the beginning and very “publicly” donating something they didn’t rightfully own in the first place. They probably assumed since they were tenants in the building that they owned the meteorite. Now it seems, they’re simply spinning it in the media for all it’s worth to redeem themselves by playing the sympathy card and using the Hatian relief efforts as a crutch to lean on.

I have a question… When did the doctors actually decide to “donate” the $5000 the Smithsonian offered to the Haitian relief effort?

Was this before or after they were notified by the Smithsonian that they did not own the meteorite? The Smithsonian lawfully had to offer the money to the landowners, not the tenants. The Smithsonian knows this, and is very aware of the legal ownership rights of landowners with regard to meteorites. There are documents that state this.

This is how i believe the initial conversation between the Smithsonian and the Doctors COULD have gone… keep in mind this is my opinion. ( It’s a FAKE transcript of a conversation that may or may not have happened like this).

Smithsonian: “Thank you kind doctors for donating the meteorite.”

Doctors: “Oh you’re quite welcome.”

Smithsonian: “What are your names so we can properly credit the you as the kind donors you are.”

Doctors: “Our names are —————….”

Smithsonian: “Wonderful, and where was the meteorite found?”

Doctors: “Would you believe it fell in our doctors office?”

Smithsonian: “Wow! That’s amazing!”

Doctors: “Yes, we thought so too. We even called the local News. We’re on TV!”

Smithsonian: “Wow! That’s wonderful. We’re happy you’re donating the meteorite. It’s truly a valuable specimen for scientific study.”

Doctors: “We are too. It’s wonderful…”

Smithsonian “You said it was found in your doctors office?”

Doctors: “Why yes it was. It would have hit us if we were examining a patient. Amazing!”

Smithsonain: “Yes… That is amazing. Do you own or rent your doctors office?”

Doctors: “We rent… Did you see us on TV?”

Smithsonian: “So you don’t own the building/land?”

Doctors: “No we don’t. Why? Does that matter?”

Smithsonian: “Yes. It matters a lot. We cannot accept a donation such as this unless it’s from the rightful owner.”

Doctors: “Well we own the meteorite don’t we?”

Smithsonian: “Technically no. The landowners do. Did you contact them? Can we get their contact info?’

Doctors: “Of course. We already contacted them, they said it was ok to donate the stone to you guys.”

Smithsonian: “That’s great, but we need to verify that.”

Doctors: “ok…”

Enter the landowners…

Smithsonian: “Mr. Mutlu, are you aware that you own the meteorite that the doctors have so kindly offered to donate to us?”

Landowners: “Well, yes…”

Smithsonian: “We’d like you to donate the stone to our institution.”

Landowners: “I thought the doctors did that already.”

Smithsonian: “You have to give your permission to donate it since you are the rightful owner.’

Landowners: “Ok… Why?”

Smithsonian: “Well, For legal reasons we need to verify that the owner wants to donate the stone. They are valuable to science, and they are worth money.”

Landowners: “Really? Well, we don’t mind donating it but is it possible to find out how much it’s worth before we make that decision?”

Smithsonian: “We could offer you $5000 for it”?”

Landowners: “Wow! That’s a lot of money. For a rock?”

Smithsonian: “Well, it’s a meteorite, a special rock from space. Would you like to donate the stone?”

Landowners: “Can we think about it?”

Smithsonian: “Sure”

Again, this is only a FAKE transcript of a conversation that did not happen. It’s only my personal opinion of how I believe the conversation could have transpired based on the investigating of this case that I’ve done on my own.

It’s easy to see why the doctors are doing what they’re doing. They’re very public people. They most likely wanted to ride the publicity wave and promote their business, and when it turned out and they realized they didn’t actually own the meteorite, and the Smithsonian offer the Mutlus the $5000, the doctors started spinning it in the media in their favor.

I received multiple documents from a confidential source that were allegedly sent by the Smithsonian to the Mutlus, that state in no uncertain and very matter-of-fact terms that the Smithsonian already knew the meteorite is owned by the landlords. These documents also state that they Smithsonian offered the Mutlus $5000 for the meteorite. I’m not aware of any offer of $5000 to the doctors, unless, the doctors were originally offered money (verbally or written) by the Smithsonian out of a perceived mistaken ownership of the meteorite by the doctors when they first took the stone to the Smithsonian.

I contacted sources directly involved with this issue within the Smithsonian for their side of the story, and my emails and phone calls were not returned.

Here’s my “opinion” of how this whole thing went down.
“…The Lorton, meteorite falls. Doctors pick it up. They call the landlords, the Smithsonian and the NEWS and notify them all. The doctors do the news interviews, “Rock smashing and all that…” then they say they’re donating is and take the stone to the Smithsonian, the Smithsonian, believing the doctors own it at first offer them $5000 for it, the doctors and the Smithsonian realize they don’t own the meteorite. The Smithsonian contacts the Mutlus with an offer. The doctors tell the Mutlus that the Smithsonian is offering $5000 for the meteorite, The Mutlus say, “What?!” The landlords decide they want the meteorite and they receive an offer from the Smithsonian with an offer of $5000 for the stone. The doctors are then left with nothing for their “efforts” and realizing they are in an embarrassing position publicly, they spin the story in the media that there was an offer of $5000 to buy the meteorite, which was probably initially true (to the landlords), and they added that they were going to “donate” this money to the Haitian relief effort. (which is a very noble cause and I support it, but not for the reasons I believe the doctors are really doing it) The doctors, started spreading the news around via local and national media that the landlords are playing hardball and want their stone back. The “Bad Landlord” smear campaign starts. This slams the Mutlus in the media, and paints a Good Guy-Bad Guy fight scenario which appeals to the public who don’t have the whole story…” Disclaimer – This is my own opinion of how things might have transpired. It’s not verified and only OPINION!

The Smithsonian is stuck in the middle of this fight and has decided to “hold” the meteorite in safekeeping until this ownership issue is “resolved”. Which in my opinion is already resolved as evidenced by the document(s) the Smithsonian allegedly sent to the Mutlus. If these documents are real, and truly are from the Smithsonian, this will resolve this case. It appears in these documents that the Smithsonian in their own words admitted they know the ownership lies with the landlords and not the doctors.

If this case is “won” in the media, then it will be bad all around for ALL landowners who have meteorites on their land that are found by grounds keepers, tenants or even visitors to property. That will set a dangerous precedent and bring more litigation into court rooms across the USA and ultimately the world. If the tenant is granted rights to a meteorite which falls on property they do not own, it will call into question even the landowners rights of anything on their property. A “finders keepers” ruling with regard to private land, is dangerous and will cause more trouble than it’s worth! If a landowner doesn’t own mineral rights, can a large company come in and bulldose the house to get at the minerals? Can anyone walking along the property boundary, if they see a cool looking “natural rock” on property that they do not own, can the then keep that rock? The landowner rightfully owns their land. Anything which naturally “lands” on that land is by an act of nature natural and is rightfully owned by the landowner.

In the case of  the “Lorton Meteorite” the doctors are confused and embarrassed. The Smithsonian is stuck in the middle. The doctors are confusing the public, and trying to save face by arguing the landowners are the bad guys, and that since the meteorite was obstructed from actually hitting the land, they were the lawful tenants at the time of the meteorite fall that they own the meteorite by proxy.

Meteorite ownership in the United States has already been determined and there is a precedence set for meteorite ownership with regard to meteorites found on private land in the USA, Canada, and Australia.

In Oregon, USA the case of the Willamette meteorite (the largest iron meteorite in the USA) the Oregon Supreme Court ruled the the landowner is the rightful owner, thereby acknowledging that meteorite ownership lies with the landowner.

EXCERPT: From The Pacific reporter, Volume 81 By West Publishing Company

“OREGON IRON CO. v. HUGHES. (Supreme Court of Oregon. July 17, 1905.)

1. Mkteorites—Real Or Personal Property.

A meteorite or aerolite, though not buried in the earth, is nevertheless real estate, belonging to the owner of the land, and not personal property, in the absence of proof of severance.”

Other countries acknowledge landowners ownership rights to meteorites also. More recently in Australia, a custody battle erupted over the Cunnamulla meteorite which was found by a property’s caretaker. In this case the magistrate has ruled in favor of the landowner.

Let me ask you something as a landowner. Would you let someone take your meteorite?

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