Question

A homeowner who regularly borrowed garden tools from his neighbor went to the neighbor's house to borrow the neighbor's leaf blower. The neighbor was not at home, but the leaf blower was in his unlocked garage with his other garden tools, and so the homeowner took it. Unbeknownst to the homeowner, the neighbor had drained the oil from the leaf blower's motor. The homeowner ran the leaf blower for an hour; the motor was totally destroyed because it had no oil. The value of the leaf blower at the time that the homeowner took it was $300. An identical new leaf blower costs $500. The cost of repairing the motor is $150. A new motor will cost $250. If the neighbor sues the homeowner on a theory of conversion and is successful, what damages can he recover

Answer 1

$ 300 but the home owner will keep the leaf blower.

Step-by-step explanation:

If the neighbor is successful in the conversion action, FMV of the leaf blower converted will be the measure of the damages done by the homeowner. The damage value or the FMV is computed or considered as of the place of the conversion and the time.

In this case, the leaf blower when the homeowner damaged it have the value of $300 at that time. So that is the amount i.e. $ 300, the neighbor is entitled to, but at the same time, the homeowner gets the leaf blower after paying the $ 300 to the neighbor.