Beck

INTRODUCTION

Cyrus Namini appeals from the judgment after the trial court found him and his company, Franklin & Sons (collectively, Namini), liable for damaging Cynthia Beck’s classic 1972 Porsche and awarded Beck $50,000 for loss of use, $70,000 for cost of repairs, and $250,000 in punitive damages. Namini argues that substantial evidence did not support the trial court’s findings Namini wrongfully possessed and damaged the Porsche and that the trial court made various errors in calculating damages. We conclude that substantial evidence supported the court’s findings, but that Beck was entitled to damages only for the Porsche’s diminution in market value and only in the amount of $32,000. Therefore, we modify the judgment and affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Beck’s Stolen Porsche Arrives in Namini’s Storage Unit In 1974 Beck bought a 1972 Porsche 911S Targa, one of only 900 of that model imported for sale in the United States. In 1988 Beck stopped driving the car and registered it with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) as non-operational. In March 2016 burglars stole the Porsche and a safe containing the car’s certificate of title (the “pink slip”) from…