Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Washington

Re: Found object

I'd need to know a lot more facts about what you say is a public place. In the context of your question, "public" is an unsupported conclusion.

You then relate that you "notified the managers", which suggests that the public place you identify is a place somebody else manages. I cannot tell whether it is a restaurant or an apartment complex or a federal park.

That said, there is no waiting period. The question is whether or not you told or notified anyone of your find in case the true owner was looking for the thing.

You know the property was not yours moments before you found it. It was lost or misplaced by somebody - either the true owner or a thief or somebody else. It is entirely possible that the true owner is now trying to find it.

It is possible that the true owner has no relationship with the place you found it. I cannot tell whether they live there, were visiting from Isle of Man or what.

Right now you are an accidental or unintended bailee. If you don't tell anybody what happened and you are subsequently arrested for theft, then you run the risk of being convicted of theft, if the true owner accuses you, convincingly of having stolen or converted their property.

Conversion occurs when a person deprives the true owner of their possessory interest in personal property with the intent to deprive them of that interest for a period longer than the true owner consents to.

If they don't object for whatever reason, then the diamond is found property and is, as you say, "legally" yours.

If they do object, and you don't return it, then the diamond becomes "evidence".

Powell