27-1-320: Conversion of personal property.

(1) The detriment caused by the wrongful conversion of personal property is presumed to be:

(a) the value of the property at the time of its conversion with the interest from that time or, when the action has been prosecuted with reasonable diligence, the highest market value of the property at any time between the conversion and the verdict without interest, at the option of the injured party; and

(b) a fair compensation for the time and money properly expended in pursuit of the property.

(2) The presumption declared by subsection (1) cannot be rebutted in favor of one whose possession was wrongful from the beginning by that person's subsequent application of the property to the benefit of the owner without the owner's consent.