James Robert (Bo) Hobbs v. Nora Estelle Hobbs, Teresa Windle, and Don Holland

This case involves the conversion of personal property. For several years, the plaintiff son stored various types of equipment in a pole barn located on his mother’s property. The mother decided to sell her property and, in preparation for the sale, she hired the defendant scrap dealer to clear out the pole barn and sell its contents. The scrap dealer cleared out the pole barn and sold the son’s equipment for a total of $657. After the son learned of this, he sued his mother and the scrap dealer, claiming that they converted his property and asserting that the property was worth $22,000 if purchased new. After a trial, the trial court held that the mother and the scrap dealer had converted the son’s equipment, but awarded him $657 in damages, the salvage value of the property. The plaintiff now appeals. We affirm, finding that the son failed to submit proof of the actual value of the property at the time of the conversion.