a question for those familiar with the law

ebaybuyer

my question is: what exactly is needed to bring suit against someone for conversion, defined as illegally converting someones property to your own, the local police are dead on thier A$$ about doing anything. so im going to try another route. i know a few here are very familiar with the law, and quite a few others no nothing but like to run thier mouths, this question is directed toward those that actually know something. thank you in advance for any information.

SanctionII

What state are you located in?

I practice law in California and know about "conversion" under California law.

In general conversion is a civil claim available to a person whose personal property [not including "money"; this will be discussed later] has been wrongfully taken from or wrongfully withheld from the rightful possessor of the personal property [most times this is the owner o fthe property, but not always]. Conversion is a claim that is designed to provide the rightful possessor of the property a remedy to recover from the wrongdoer:

1. return of the personal property, or, if it is no longer available, the monetary value of the property on the date of the conversion;

2. money representing the value of the lost use of the property during the time period the rightful possessor does not have possession of same;

3. the out of pocket expenses incurred by the rightful possessor in connection with recovering possession of the personal property [not including attorneys fees however, in most cases]; and

4. if the facts warrant same, punitive damages designed to punish the wrongdoer.

One interesting issue is that conversion does not work when the personal property that has been converted is "money". For example ten $100.00 bills of the current design. Thus the wrongful taking of pocket change and currency used in everyday commerce would not be something that you could bring a conversion lawsuit on. However, if instead of the ten $100.00 bills, you were talking about 50 1895 Liberty $20.00 gold pieces [face value total of $1,000.00, just like the face value of the ten $100.00 bills], this would not be considered "money". It would be considered personal property with instrinsic value [due to the gold] and/or collector value [due to collectors desiring these coins] over and above the $20.00 face value of each coin. Same thing for a 1909 MPL cent as opposed to a 2009 cent.

If collector coins of yours have been converted, you could probably sue the bad guy for conversion. If the dollar value of the coins is less than the small claims maximum in your state, you should sue in small claims court. If the value of the coins is far above the small claims limit you should consult a lawyer.

Good luck.

P.S. Online and/or bookstore and/or law library resources are probably available in your state/city that will discuss the law of "conversion" as it exists in your state.

dsessom

I am an ex-Deputy Sheriff and I only ever recall one such case, in which a person borrowed some expensive tools and that person lent the tools to another person who arrested and incarcerated (on a totally unrelated drug charge). Meanwhile, neither the original owner nor first borrower could locate the tools. While nobody involved intentionally "stole" the tools, they were lost to the owner and first borrower. The first borrower apparently couldn't contact or locate the second borrower who had been incarcerated, and eventually the original owner charged the first borrower of conversion.
To do this, the owner had to prove ownership of the tools in question by providing reciepts and witness testimony. The owner was successful and the first borrower was fined ($1000 if memory serves) and ordered to pay restitution to the owner.

So to answer your question, you need to prove ownership and you have to prove that whatever happened, did indeed happen - either with reciepts, witness testimony, photos, etc. A good lawyer wouldn't hurt either. Good luck.

AUandAG

Is this coin related? Why didn't you just PM Sanction, or others, for free legal advice?

bob

LotsoLuck

I took a class on Civil Torts at a JC in the 70's but I dont suppose that would do you any good, meh, its not coin related anyway

Coinosaurus

Isn't it amazing how such a simple concept turns into half a dozen paragraphs when the attorney gets it?

Just steal a toy from any two-year old. They don't know any of these fancy words about "conversion," but they sure as **** know they have been screwed.

dlmtorts

Isn't amazing how well Sanction's explanation explains everything and leaves no wiggle room. I for one am glad that lawyer could make things so clear. Keep up the good work, Sanction!

SanctionII

Laws are established to promote a stable, functioning, prosperous and civil society. They create a "floor" as it were with conduct between persons in society hopefully meeting and exceeding this minimum standard.

The numerous laws we have and the complexity of same expand over time for various reasons. These include a moral decline with more and more people taking a "me first, second, third and always" attitude with "who cares about others" attitude thrown in; and an increasingly intrusive government at all levels wanting to regulate everyone and everything from cradle to grave [plus increasing numbers of people perfectly happy to allow the government to do so].

If everyone followed the "golden rule" [treat others as you would like them to treat you], there would be less need for complex and confusing laws. Regretfully I do not see that happening.