Trans Container Services (Basel) A.G. v. Security Forwarders, Inc., Trans Container Services (Basel) A.G. v. Security Forwarders, Inc.

Trans Container, a Swiss corporation, appeals from a judgment which awarded Security Forwarders, a Louisiana corporation, $114,739.81 general and punitive damages for conversion of property.

This action grew out of a dispute between Trans Container (acting through its English subsidiary, Atlantic-Pacific Shipping Company) and Security Forwarders over the performance by Trans Container of services related to the movement between the United States and England of household goods belonging to United States military personnel. Security does not dispute a debt to Trans Container, but does dispute the methods Trans Container used to collect the debt.

Trans Container initiated this action as a breach of contract claim to recover money allegedly owed by Security. Security successfully counterclaimed, alleging that Trans Container committed fraud and conversion and breached various contracts. We affirm in part and remand for recomputation of the judgment.

The parties were participating together in the movement of personal property for a United States agency, the Military Traffic Management Command. This movement of personal property required the use of standardized containers. With good…