104 F. 192 | 8th Cir. | 1900
after stating tlie case as above, delivered the opinion of the court.
The measure of damages for the conversion of personal property is the value of that property at the time and place of its conversion, in the absence of a plea and proof of facts and circumstances which entitle the injured party to special damages. Suth. Dam. § 1109; Brown v. Allen, 35 Iowa, 306; Gravel v. Clough, 81 Iowa, 274, 46 N. W. 1092; Thew v. Miller, 73 Iowa, 742, 36 N. W. 771. One of the exceptions to the general rule is that the measure of damages for the conversion of stocks and like speculative property is the highest market value which the property attains between the time of its conversion and the expiration of a reasonable time to enable the owner to put himself in statu quo after notice to him of the conversion. McKinley v. Williams. 74 Fed. 94, 103, 20 C. C. A. 312, 321, 36 U. S. App. 749, 763; Galigher v. Jones, 129 U. S. 193, 201, 32 L. Ed. 658. This, however, is not au action for conversion. It is an action for the simple1 wrongful detention of personal property for the period of about two months. The measure of damages for the detention of personal property is the value of its use during the period of detention, in the absence of a plea and proof of facts and circumstances which warrant special damages. Lumber Co. v. Spencer, 81 Iowa, 549, 550, 46 N. W. 1058. So far as this record discloses, the value of the use of the corn in the crib during the two months it was retained under the levy was nothing. But the plaintiff, the defendant in error here, recovered §2,800 damages for the difference between the highest market value this corn reached during the period of detention and its market value on the day it was released from the levy. The defendant offered to show that within 30 days after it was released, and while it was still held by the plaintiff, its market value was as great as it was at any time during the detention, and this evidence was rejected. Conceding for the purpose of the consideration of this question, but not deciding, that under some circumstances the highest market value of personal property during its detention is the basis for the measure of damages, the question is whether or not, in an action for special damages, consisting of the difference between the highest market value of personal property during its wrongful detention and its market: value when returned to the owner, it is competent for the wrongdoer to show that after the property was returned to the plaintiff, and before he commenced his action, its market value was as great and its sale as feasible as at any time during the detention.
Compensation is the standard for the measure of damages. Rockefeller v. Merritt, 76 Fed. 909, 917, 22 C. C. A. 608, 616, 40 U. S. App. 666, 679. With the exception of those rare cases in which punitive damages may be recovered, of which the case at bar is not one, a defendant is never liable to pay more than the actual loss which he has indicted upon the plaintiff by his wrong. Nor is the plaintiff permitted to exaggerate, increase, or speculate on his loss so as to in
The evidence which was produced upon the trial of this case is not embodied in the bill of exceptions, and it is not intended by the views which follow’ to forestall the consideration by the court below of the evidence which may be presented upon the second trial, or to decide the questions of law which may arise upon that evidence. But, in view of the fact that the case must be tried again, attention is called to the following suggestions: It is difficult to conceive of any state of facts suggested by the amended complaint in this action which would sustain the extraordinary judgment that was rendered on the former trial. This is not an action for conversion. It is a simple action for unlawful detention of corn, and the general rule of damages is the value of the use of the property while it is thus detained. The plaintiff seeks to recover the difference between the highest price which corn reached during the detention and its market