Lawyers' Mortg. Inv. Corp. v. Paramount Laundries, Inc. - 287 Mass. 357, 191 N.E. 398 (1934)

Rule:

The true owner is not bound to accept a return of converted goods but is entitled as damages to the value of the goods at the time of the conversion. Upon satisfaction of the damages, the title to the goods passes to the wrongdoer. If the owner has not retaken the goods, he is entitled also to interest upon the value, to compensate him for the delay in obtaining redress. If the owner has retaken the goods, the damages are likewise based upon the value at the time of conversion. But in mitigation of those damages, the wrongdoer is entitled to credit for the value of the goods at the time of the return, though he is chargeable with the value of the use of which the owner has been deprived during the period of wrongful detention. One who converts goods to his own use becomes responsible for them, and any depreciation or loss, though occurring without his fault, falls upon him. 

Facts:

The holder purchased a mortgaged premises at a foreclosure sale. The holder filed bills in equity to establish title to laundry machinery, which was situated on the premises and was sold on conditional sales contract by the seller. The lower court awarded, as damages to the seller, interest on the value of its machinery and depreciation from the time the holder detained the machinery by making entry to foreclose on the mortgage and continued to detain it after an interlocutory decree that the machinery was the seller's personalty.

Issue:

Was it a proper exercise of discretion for the judge to leave the defendant to his remedy at law upon the bond?

Answer:

Yes.

Conclusion:

The court held that the holder in possession of the building in which the machinery was situated claimed dominion over and converted the machinery by asserting that it intended to hold the machinery as realty and refuse to give it up if the seller, who had title and the right to immediate possession, made a demand. The court held that the lower court had the discretion to deny the individual counsel fees as damages for a breach of the injunction bond in the ancillary summary proceeding in the very action in which the bond was given.