Wolfe v. Furman

• Decision Date: 22 February 1910
• Citation: 124 N.W. 1039,142 Wis. 94
• Parties: WOLFE v. FURMAN ET AL.
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

142 Wis. 94

124 N.W. 1039

WOLFE

v.FURMAN ET AL.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

Feb. 22, 1910.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Washburn County; A. J. Vinje, Judge.

Action by J. H. Wolfe against Luther Furman and another. From so much of the judgment as awarded costs to defendants, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

This was an action of replevin commenced in the circuit court of Douglas county, and afterwards removed to the circuit court of Washburn county, to recover the possession of a quantity of hay alleged to be owned by the plaintiff. The complaint alleges that the value of the hay is $150, and that the same had been wrongfully taken and detained by the defendants. The answer was in substance a general denial. The jury returned a special verdict finding the value of the hay cut and removed from the land in question to be $40. In addition to the finding of the jury, the court made the following findings of fact on the issues raised by the pleading and not covered by the verdict: That at all the times mentioned in the complaint one Frederic Ayer was the owner of the lands described in the complaint and that during all of said time I. W. Burhans was his agent; that on the 10th day of July, 1909, said I. W. Burhans, as agent of said Ayer, sold to the plaintiff and granted him a license in writing to cut and remove all the grass growing on the lands described in the complaint for that year; that during the month of August, 1908, defendants entered upon said lands and cut and removed the hay in question without permission or authority, and mixed and confused the same with other hay grown upon defendants' lands, and stacked the same on the lands of one James Furman; that after said hay was cut and removed by defendants said I. W. Burhans, as agent of said Frederic Ayer, gave a further writing to the plaintiff purporting to sell and convey the hay cut from the lands described in the complaint, and assigning to him any and all right of action he may have against the defendants by reason of such unlawful cutting; that on the 20th day of November, 1908, by virtue of the writ of replevin issued herein, the sheriff of Washburn county seized and took possession of the hay described in the complaint, and still holds it subject to the order of this court; that defendants did not give bond for the release of said hay according to section 2888, St. 1898. And as conclusions of law the court found that at the time of the commencement of this action the plaintiff was the owner and entitled to the possession of the hay cut from said lands; that the defendants unlawfully cut and removed the same from said lands and mixed and confused it with other hay grown on the premises of one James Furman; that the plaintiff is entitled to judgment for the value in money of the hay as found by the jury, and that nothing should be allowed the defendants as compensation for their labor and services in cutting and removing said hay; that no question of title to real...