96 Vt. 513 | Vt. | 1923
The action is tort, in the form of trover, for the conversion of a bay horse. Trial was had by jury. At the close of all the evidence, the defendant moved for a directed verdict on the ground, among others, that the evidence failed to show a conversion, by the defendant, of the horse in question. The court so held, and directed a verdict for the defendant and rendered judgment thereon, to all of which the plaintiff excepted.
The evidence tended to show that the plaintiff owned the horse; that pursuant to an arrangement between him and H. M. Farnham & Son, of Montpelier,-Yermont, he took the horse to their sales stable in Montpelier, on, or about, May 23, 1922, to be sold at auction the following Friday; that before the day of the auction, the defendant, acting as deputy sheriff, attached the horse as the property of one W. N. Lathrop, father of this plaintiff, in two suits against the said ~W. N. Lathrop, returnable before the Montpelier City Court, June 26th following; that defendant attached the horse by taking possession of it, and immediately placed it in the care and custody of IT. M. Farnham as keeper; that plaintiff first learned of the attachment the day the horse was to have been sold, through Farnham & Son, who told him that it had been attached and could not be sold; that he heard nothing more concerning the matter until he received information by way of a letter addressed to his attorney by the attorney for the attaching creditors that the horse had been sold; that it was, in fact, sold by Farnham & Son on June 2 or 3, and
The defendant now claims that the motion was properly granted because: (1) There was no evidence tending to show a demand by the plaintiff; and, (2) the evidence showed conclusively that defendant released the attachments before the horse was sold by Farnham & Son.
Jtidgment reversed and cause remanded.