Alex Franks was staying at a Comfort Inn in Searcy, Arkansas, while working on a highway project. He checked into the hotel on Monday, September 10. Two days later, after he had checked out and returned to his room to retrieve some laundry, he discovered $14,200 in plain view in a drawer of the dresser in the room. It was wrapped tightly with masking tape, like a brick, with some of the money showing. Franks notified the hotel manager, who in turn notified the police. The police determined that there were two bundles of money separated by denominations and then bundled together. The bundle contained 46 one hundred dollar bills and 480 twenty dollar bills. The officer who took custody of the money testified that the money appeared to be intentionally and meticulously wrapped because all the bills faced in the same direction. Franks brought suit against the City of Searcy claiming the money. The city joined the owners of the hotel as third-party defendants and then withdrew any claim on its part to the money.
Should the court hold that the money is abandoned, lost, or mislaid? Between Franks and the owner of the hotel, who has the best right to it? Why?