A person is liable for conversion for illegal exercise or taking authority over the possession of personal property belonging to another person and for the removal of the owner`s property or an act of supremacy wrongly exercised over the property in order to deny or be incompatible with the rights of the owner. A person who is not in legal possession of movable property (non-immovable property) may commit a transformation by: A transformation occurs when a person intentionally takes a person`s personal property without that person`s consent. The aggrieved party may appeal. In order to maintain a conversion action, the applicant must have an interest in the converted property. He must recover from the strength of his own title, regardless of the weakness of his opponent. It is necessary that the applicant be the owner of the property allegedly converted or that he is entitled to own or possess at the time of the alleged conversion. An absolute, unqualified title is sufficient, but not necessary. A simple right of ownership is generally considered to be a sufficient interest to support a legal action. [143] [144] In another wording, it is stated that a person claiming a conversion must prove a tortious transformation of the movable property, a right of ownership over it and a right to immediate possession that depends absolutely, unconditionally and not on the performance of an act.
[6] [7] Conversion, since it is an unlawful act, cannot result from the exercise of a right. These acts include the right to enforce a court decision or to challenge rights arising from a contract. [98] [99] The general rule is that there is no conversion until an act is performed that constitutes a denial or violation of the plaintiff`s dominion or rights over the property. In order to establish a conversion of movable property, there must be an unauthorized assumption of ownership or ownership. The act must have the essence of a crime. [100] [101] [102] An act of conversion refers to the monetary value of the property and not to the property itself. A judgment requiring either financial damages or restitution of property is not erroneous in itself. A judgment that requires only the restitution of the property is a reversible error. It is up to the Trier of Facts to determine the actual value, which may differ from that of the market value, testimony or document.
A judgment applies to title and ownership of the property at the time of conversion and does not necessarily affect subsequent transactions that may have taken place. [194] [195] [196] Intangible rights could not be lost or regained, and the original common law rule was that there could be no transformation of those rights. This restriction was largely rejected. [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] In the absence of conflicting evidence, the set-off measure for the conversion of a negotiable instrument is generally taken at its nominal value. [48] In a conversion action, there is no defence that the defendant did not act negligently, or that the defendant acquired the plaintiff`s property through a unilateral error by the plaintiff, or that the defendant acted innocently and in good faith. [159] Conversion compensation is the compensation that a person seeks in a conversion case. They are compensation for actual losses of personal property.3 min read Tangible and intangible property may be subject to a conversion claim under U.S. law. In Kremen v Cohen, 325 F.3d 1035 (9th Cir. 2003), when the sex.com domain name was wrongly transferred to a fraudster, a conversion right against the domain name registrar was considered available.
However, in English law, the most recent case obg Ltd. v. Allan [2007] UKHL 21 held intangible assets cannot be the subject of a conversion application. A judgment which has the character of a registered debt, but which has not seized property or movable property, is not subject to conversion, since the creditor of the judgment does not own it. [60] An enforceable title may be converted even if it is not privately owned. [61] [62] Unpublished and published manuscripts, whether copyrighted or not, are subject to conversion, as are paintings, images, photographs, letters, business books, brochures, newspapers and others. [63] [64] [65] Insurance policies, share certificates, bills of lading, securities, bonds and commercial paper may be converted. [66] [67] [68] Many conversion applications can be filed in small claims court without the assistance of a lawyer.