Legal Definitions - Trover

Trover is a legal claim that allows a person to seek financial compensation (damages) when someone else has wrongfully taken or used their movable personal property as if it were their own. This legal action focuses on the "conversion" of the property, meaning the unauthorized exercise of ownership rights over another's goods, thereby depriving the rightful owner of their property's use or value.

Here are some examples to illustrate the concept of Trover:

• Example 1: The Misappropriated Heirloom

  Sarah lends her antique pocket watch, a family heirloom, to her friend Mark for a themed costume party. After the party, Mark decides he likes the watch and, instead of returning it to Sarah, he pawns it for cash without her knowledge or permission.

  How this illustrates Trover: Mark has wrongfully converted Sarah's personal property (the watch) by treating it as his own and selling it. Sarah could bring a trover action against Mark to recover the monetary value of the watch, as she has been deprived of her property.

• Example 2: The Unauthorized Sale of Consigned Goods

  An artist, David, consigns one of his original paintings to an art gallery for display and potential sale. Their agreement specifies that if the painting is not sold within six months, it must be returned to David. After six months, the gallery owner, without notifying David, sells the painting to a private collector and keeps all the proceeds, claiming it was part of the gallery's own inventory.

  How this illustrates Trover: The gallery owner wrongfully converted David's painting by selling it outside the terms of their agreement and retaining the full proceeds, thereby exercising unauthorized ownership over David's property. David could sue the gallery in trover to recover the fair market value of his painting.

• Example 3: The Refusal to Return Misdelivered Property

  A furniture manufacturer mistakenly delivers a custom-made dining set, intended for Customer A, to Customer B's address. Customer B, realizing the mistake but admiring the furniture, decides to keep it and refuses to return it when the manufacturer contacts them to rectify the error.

  How this illustrates Trover: Even though the initial delivery was a mistake, Customer B's refusal to return the dining set and their decision to keep it constitutes a wrongful conversion of Customer A's personal property. Customer A (or the manufacturer, depending on the specific legal relationship) could pursue a trover action against Customer B to recover the monetary value of the dining set.