Jeffreys & Stribling v. Greeley

Citations

• 20 Fla. 819

Syllabus

<p>In an action of replevin, on the trial and bofore instructing the jury, the court asked the plaintiff to elect whether he would take the property or its value in case he should have a verdict, and plaintiff elected to take the value, the property having been redelivered to the defendants. Thereupon the court charged the jury that if they found for the plaintiff they should “ assess the damages at whatever sum may have been proven as the value” of the property, and the jury found for the plaintiff and “ assessed the damages” at a sum warranted by the proof of the value. Judgment having been entered for the amount of damages so found, defendants moved to vacate the judgment on the ground that the verdict should have assessed the value of the property and not damages, which motion was denied. On appeal it is held that the finding of the sum as “damages ” was, under the circumstances and the charge of the court, a finding of the “ value of the property,” and the plaintiff electing to take judgment for .the value was entitled to bis judgment for the amount so found by the jury, aud there is no substantial error in the judgment.</p>