Plaintiff puts cart before horse, loses

Commercial Litigation

By Paul B. Porvaznik

Paul B. Porvaznik is an attorney at Davis, McGrath LLC and practices primarily in the areas of commercial litigation, landlord-tenant law, mechanic’s liens and post-judgment enforcement.

Posted September 27, 2016 1:36 PM

Updated September 30, 2016 4:03 PM

Conversion, or civil theft, requires a plaintiff to make a demand for possession of the converted property before suing for its return. This presuit demand’s purpose is to give a defendant the opportunity to return the plaintiff’s property and avoid unnecessary litigation.What constitutes a demand though?The easiest case is where a plaintiff serves a written demand for return of property and the defendant refuses. But what if the plaintiff doesn’t send a demand but instead files a lawsuit. Is the act of …

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