A UK court has rejected a man’s attempt to sue a city council to recover a hard drive that contained a bitcoin treasure estimated to be worth close to $750 million lost in a landfill.
James Howells had argued before a court that his former business partner had thrown the hard drive containing the Bitcoin wallet in the garbage in 2013 and he wanted to access the area to recover it.
He went to court against Newport Council, failed to get access to the landfill, and also failed to get a compensation of $600 million. Judge Keyser KC determined there were “no reasonable grounds” for the claim, and “no realistic prospect” of succeeding at a full trial.
Mr. Howells said he was very upset over his failed bid to recover the lost bitcoin wallet
James Howells expressed his disappointment with the court’s decision in a BBC interview, saying, “The case being struck out at the earliest hearing doesn’t even give me the opportunity to explain myself or an opportunity for justice in any shape or form. There was so much more that could have been explained in a full trial and that’s what I was expecting.”
Meet James Howells, an IT engineer in Wales, confidently threw an old hard drive during a cleanup in 2013.
What he didn’t realize: it held 8,000 Bitcoins.
At today’s prices, that’s over $760 million—buried in a landfill.
But that’s just the beginning.. pic.twitter.com/bmurmwYCvs
— Rodney (@cryptojourneyrs) December 10, 2024
Howells added that he has spent the last 12 years trying to engage with Newport City Council, but now feels the decision is a “kick in the teeth.” He also said that his quest is not about greed. Instead, he would be “happy to share the proceeds” but nobody in a position of power will have a decent conversation with him.
He also said that the ruling had taken everything from him, and it’s another example of “the great British injustice system striking again.”
The court ruled that the hard drive became the property of the council when it entered the landfill
Howells successfully mined the cryptocurrency for almost nothing in 2009. Then the Bitcoin wallet was thrown away and lost in a 2013 accident. In an attempt to recover the device, he assembled a team of experts. By 2024, the value of the Bitcoin he mined in 2009 had risen by 80 percent.
However, James Goudie argued for the council that current laws determine the hard drive is the property of the city council. His argumentation succeeded.
I lost, they won.
Might appeal.
See what happens.
It is what it is.
End of story…
For Now!!! 🤬
— James Howells (@howelzy) January 9, 2025
Over the years, Mr. Howells had also offered to donate 10 percent of the Bitcoin to the local community. He also claimed that despite the landfill holding more than 1.4 million tons of waste, he and his team had narrowed down the drive’s location to an area of 100,000 tonnes of waste. The lost flash drive could potentially be worth $1 billion by 2026.
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