Conversion - Explained
Civil Action for Wrongfully Depriving Somone of their Property
Written by J. Mance Gordon
Updated at April 20th, 2024
- Marketing, Advertising, Sales & PR
- Accounting, Taxation, and Reporting
- Professionalism & Career Development
-
Law, Transactions, & Risk Management
Government, Legal System, Administrative Law, & Constitutional Law Legal Disputes - Civil & Criminal Law Agency Law HR, Employment, Labor, & Discrimination Business Entities, Corporate Governance & Ownership Business Transactions, Antitrust, & Securities Law Real Estate, Personal, & Intellectual Property Commercial Law: Contract, Payments, Security Interests, & Bankruptcy Consumer Protection Insurance & Risk Management Immigration Law Environmental Protection Law Inheritance, Estates, and Trusts
- Business Management & Operations
- Economics, Finance, & Analytics
- Courses
What is Conversion?
Conversion is a civil cause of action for taking another persons property without her consent.
What is required for a Conversion action?
Conversion entails the wrongful exercise of dominion (power) and control over the personal (non-land) resources of someone else.
In doing so, a person violates the owner's lawful right to exclude others from her resources.
The deprivation may be temporary or permanent, but it must constitute a serious invasion of the owner's legal rights.
- Example: Stealing something from an employer is conversion as is purchasing something that has been stolen. Failing to return something at a designated time, delivering something to the wrong party, and destruction or alteration of someone else's property also constitutes a conversion.
Related Topics
- Tort Law (Intro)
- What are Torts?
- What are the types of torts?
- What are Intentional Torts?
- Unintentional Tort
- Assault and Battery?
- Intentional Infliction of Emotions Distress?
- Invasion of Privacy?
- False Imprisonment?
- Malicious Prosecution?
- Trespass?
- Conversion?
- Defamation?
- Defenses to Defamation?
- Absolute Privilege
- Defamation and 1st Amendment Considerations?
- Fraud?
- Intentional Interference with Contractual Relations?
- What is Negligence?
- Negligence A Duty of Care?
- Negligence Breach of Duty of Care?
- Causation?
- Cause-in-Fact
- What are common defenses to negligence actions?
- What is Strict Liability?
- Strict Liability Causes of Action Examples
- Strict Products Liability
- What defenses exist to strict product liability actions?
- Compensatory damages?
- Punitive damages?
- Treble Damages