57 Mich. 322 | Mich. | 1885
The firm of R. B. Hubbard & Oo., of which the defendant was a member, in the month of Decem
It appears from the testimony that the land of plaintiff, from which the timber was taken, sought to be recovered for, is about three and one-half miles-from Willow creek, at the point where Montgomery delivered them to the defendant, and the plaintiff claims that he sh'ould recover the value of the logs at that point delivered in the creek. The defendant on the contrary, insists that the conversion, if any, was by his servants in the woods where the timber stood upon plaintiff’s land, and that the damages for which he was liable, if any, was the value of the stumpage. The court instructed the jury in accordance with the views of plaintiff’s counsel, and the verdict of the jury was rendered accordingly.
. There is no evidence in the case tending to show that the defendant, his company, or Montgomery, intended any trespass or knew they were upon the land of the plaintiff in cutting the timber.
We think the circuit judge erred in his instruction to the jury. We discover nothing in the case indicating any willful or negligent trespass on the part of the defendant or the company’s employees. The general rule of damages is the value of the property lost under such circumstances at the time and place of conversion. The declaration avers plaintiff’s possession of the land¡ and the ownership of the prop
We think the testimony offered and rejected by the court was competent as evidence tending to show the value of the property, even under the theory of the plaintiffs. It was only one means of arriving at the value of the property at the place where the plaintiff claims the conversion occurred. In no view that we can take of the case, as presented upon this record, can the rulings of the court be sustained; and
The judgment must be reversed and a new trial granted.