Thrift v. Haner, 97.
| Citation | 286 Mich. 495,282 N.W. 219 |
| Decision Date | 10 November 1938 |
| Docket Number | No. 97.,97. |
| Parties | THRIFT v. HANER et al. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Suit for conversion of $1,180.63, by Clifton Thrift against Fred Haner and others. From a judgment for the plaintiff, the defendants appeal.
Reversed.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Oakland County; Frank L. Doty, judge.
Argued before the Entire Bench, except BUTZEL, J.
John Hal Engel, of Detroit, for appellants.
Charles S. Matthews, of Pontiac, for appellee.
Plaintiff brought suit against defendants for conversion of $1,180.63. From judgment for plaintiff, defendants appeal.
Plaintiff resides in Oakland county and directed a hockey team called the Pontiac Sandy Beach Hockey Club. He joined the Michigan Ontario Hockey League and made an arrangement with the Olympia, a corporation, to play hockey league games on its ice. At the conclusion of the playing season there was $1,180.63 in the hands of the secretary and treasurer of the Michigan Ontario Hockey League as plaintiff's share of the profits of the playing season. Defendant Haner was secretary and treasurer of the Michigan Ontario Hockey League and auditor of Olympia. The money which he had in his hands was held by him as an officer of the Michigan Ontario Hockey League. Defendant Giffels was manager of Olympia and claimed plaintiff owed him certain moneys and asked defendant Haner not to give plaintiff a check for the $1,180.63 unless his (Giffels') claims were settled, such claims growing out of the use of the Olympia for games and claimed services rendered by Olympia for plaintiff and his hockey team. There was a motion made to dismiss, on which plaintiff was sworn and testified:
Defendants claim that an action in tort for the conversion of the money in the treasury of the Michigan Ontario Hockey League, or in Mr. Haner's possession as secretary and treasurer thereof, will not lie. As the disposition of this question is decisive of the case, we refrain from discussing the other questions raised.
An action of assumpsit is an action which lies to recover damages for the nonperformance of a contract, while an action of trover or for conversion is an action of tort. The character of the action is to be determined by the declaration, which charges that by reason of the connection between Haner and Giffels as employer and employee that Haner and Giffels conspired to defraud plaintiff of the money above mentioned and that Giffels, exercising his control as employer over the employee, prevented defendant Haner from paying plaintiff the money in question; that plaintiff had made repeated demands upon Giffels and Haner for the payment of the money but they had not paid it and, on the contrary, had taken possession of the money and unlawfully converted and disposed of the same to their own use. Whereupon plaintiff claims judgment against defendants in the recovery and possession of said sum of $1,180.63, with interest.
Cullen v. O'Hara, 4 Mich. 132, held that trover was maintainable, for specific gold coin, by an administrator of the estate of a deceased...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
National Discount Corp. v. O'MELL
...complaint whether the action is one in tort or one in contract. Dallas v. Garras, 306 Mich. 313, 316, 10 N.W.2d 897; Thrift v. Haner, 286 Mich. 495, 497, 282 N.W. 219. In the present case, the complaint alleges both borrowed money with a refusal to repay and a conversion of the mortgaged pr......
-
Scott Paper Company v. Fort Howard Paper Company
...the complaint whether the action is one in tort or one in contract. Dallas v. Garras, 306 Mich 313, 316, 10 N.W.2d 897; Thrift v. Haner, 286 Mich. 495, 497, 282 N.W. 219." The court there noted that the inherent nature of the claim, as opposed to the name accorded it by the pleader, governe......
-
Carpenters' Pension Trust Fund Detroit & Vicinity v. Laminate Creations
...352 Mich. 65, 70-71 (1958); Larsen v. Stiller, 344 Mich. 279, 289 (1955); Garras v. Bekiares, 315 Mich. 141, 147 (1946); Thrift v. Haner, 286 Mich. 495 (1938). "Though money is property which it is often difficult to identify, it is well settled that an action of trover will lie for its con......
-
Lawsuit Financial, LLC v. Curry, Docket No. 243011.
...a claim for statutory conversion because an action may not be maintained in tort for the conversion of money, Thrift v. Haner, 286 Mich. 495, 497-498, 282 N.W. 219 (1938), and because defendant Fieger lawfully came into possession of the litigation proceeds. Defendant Fieger further argued ......