Lee v. De La Motte

Action in claim and delivery for the recovery of possession of a certain automobile or its value, which latter was alleged in the complaint to be the sum of $850, together with damages. Defendants had judgment, from which plaintiff has appealed.

In addition to determining that the plaintiff was neither the owner nor entitled to the possession of the automobile in question, the trial court found that the plaintiff had preliminarily obtained the possession of the automobile through the sheriff, and by the judgment directed that the defendants have possession of the same, or recover the value thereof, which was fixed at the same sum alleged by the plaintiff, to wit, $850. The appellant’s points may be summarized under two heads: (1) That the evidence was insufficient to support the finding against the ownership or right to the possession of the automobile in the plaintiff; (2) that under the pleadings the judgment directing the return of the automobile to the defendants was unauthorized. A consideration of the first point involves an examination of the main facts of the case as shown by the evidence. Necessarily, in considering the findings as made by the trial court, the evidence…