Damages for Harms to Possessory Interests in Personal Property

This lesson covers basic and specific measures of damages recoverable for tortious invasions of the interest in exclusive possession of personal property.

The student will be presented with concrete situations in which to consider application of rules and concepts of the law of damages. Analytically, invasions of the interest are separated into permanent deprivations and temporary deprivations and the different rules applicable to the two different contexts are explored.

Before working on this lesson, the student should complete the lessons on General Concepts of Damages in Torts and Fundamentals of Damages for Harms to Personal Property. Basic and specific measures of damages recoverable for tortious invasions of the interest in exclusive possession of personal property.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, students will be able to:

1. Define "ascertainable value."
2. Explain the relevance of ascertainable value to the issue of whether prejudgment interest on the value of the chattel should be included as damages.
3. Explain how to measure the value of chattels which have fluctuating value.
4. Discuss rental value as a measure of loss of use.
5. Explain the recoverability of damages for emotional distress for the deprivation.
6. Analyze the rules and principles that apply to attempts by owners of personal property to obtain compensation for invasions of their possessory interest in that property.
7. Explain that damages may vary according to whether the deprivation of possession is permanent or temporary.