A person placed a posting online that said, "I just had a tag sale, and all left-overs are on my lawn free to anyone that wants to take it. Help yourself!"
Someone comes by, sees a large dresser on the lawn, and takes it to his home which is a few houses away. He places it on his lawn.
Several minutes later, the original dresser owner comes by the other person's home, and sees her dresser on the other person's lawn. She knocks on the door, and says, "What are you doing with my dresser? Didn't you see the sign posted on the front of the dresser saying "Do Not take this dresser. Help yourself to everything else"?
The other person says, "What sign? There was no sign!"
The original owner says, "I placed a paper sign on the front of the dresser. The wind must have blown it off. But, I want my dresser back!"
Does the other person have to return the dresser? Does placing a flimsy paper sign that the original owner should have known would easily be blown away by the wind indicate some form of negligence in protecting her property? Technically, the other person hasn't done anything wrong as there was no sign excluding the dresser, and the ad stated to take anything on the lawn.
Please feel free to edit the question title. I had trouble phrasing this. I also couldn't locate proper tags.