California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. C.S. (In re C.S.), C086027 (Cal. App. 2019):
A person who takes property openly and avowedly, believing in good faith that he has a lawful claim to the property taken, necessarily lacks the felonious intent to steal the property even if his belief is mistaken. ( 511 [embezzlement]; People v. Tufunga (1999) 21 Cal.4th 935, 938; People v. Hussain (2014) 231 Cal.App.4th 261, 269.) However, neither the statute nor any case law cited by the parties extends the claim-of-right defense to a situation where a person takes more money or property than he claims to be entitled to, and we have found no case law that holds the defense viable on such facts.
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