score:7

Accepted answer

You're probably looking for something like this:

var record = myList.All(m => m.Date.Equals("Never")) 
               ? myList.FirstOrDefault() 
               : myList.FirstOrDefault(m => !m.Date.Equals("Never"));

For more on .All() just look at this MSDN post.

score:8 

var record = myList.FirstOrDefault(m => !m.Date.Equals("Never"))
               ?? myList.FirstOrDefault();

i.e. first one that doesn't equal never or null, and if null, just the first one (or null).

score:-1

Since you have two rules, you will need an if condition somewhere.

The simplest form that I can think of is something like this:

return myList.All(x => x.Date == "Never") ? myList.FirstOrDefault() : myList.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Date != "Never");

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