Case Name: REYNOLDS v. REISS et al.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1916-05-09
Citations: 145 La. 155
Docket Number: No. 21916
Parties: REYNOLDS v. REISS et al.
Judges: O’NIELL, J., concurs in the decree.
Reporter: Louisiana Reports
Volume: 145
Pages: 155–161

Head Matter:
(81 South. 884)
No. 21916.
REYNOLDS v. REISS et al.
(May 9, 1916.
On the Merits, March 31, 1919.
Rehearing Denied May 5, 1919.)
(Syllabus by the Court.)
Í. Appeal and Error <&wkey;14(l), 365(1) — Jurisdiction — Nullity — Second Order of Appeal.
An order of appeal to a court without jurisdiction is a nullity; and, where the appeal has not been completed by the giving of bond, a second order of appeal, granted within time, to the proper court, is valid.
On the Merits.
(Additional Syllabus by Editorial Staff.)
2.Trover and Conversion <&wkey;32(l) — Pleading — Sufficiency.
Petition alleging that defendants on a certain day took possession of plaintiff’s switch track, against his protest, and were still using it at the time of the trial, to plaintiff’s damage in the cost of laying out the switch, stated an action in trover.
3. Trover and Conversion <&wkey;13 — Remedy —Recovery of Property and Damage.
One whose property is unlawfully taken may sue for its recovery, together with rent which he may have incurred through deprivation of' its use while in defendant’s possession.
4. Trover and Conversion <&wkey;44 — Measure of Damages.
In a suit to recover property unlawfully taken from plaintiff’s possession and incurred from rent being deprived of its use, the measure of damages is the value of the use of the property during defendant’s possession.
5. Trover and Conversion <&wkey;53 — Action for Damages — Interest.
One whose property is unlawfully taken without asserting any claim to its return may demand as damages the value of his property, together with interest thereon from the date of the alleged conversion.
6. Limitation of Actions <&wkey;30, 55(5) — Conversion.
Where plaintiff’s switch track was unlawfully taken by defendants, plaintiff’s claim for damages from a conversion began to run on the day it was taken, and where that date was more than one year from the date of suit, the claim was barred by Civ. Code, arts. 3536, 3537.
Appeal from Civil District Court, Parish of Orleans; George H. Théard, Judge.
Action by Hampton Reynolds against John Reiss and the New Orleans Terminal Company. Defendants’ plea of prescription sustained, and plaintiff appeals.
Motion to dismiss appeal denied, and judgment affirmed.
Terriberry, Rice & Young, of New Orleans, for appellant Hampton Reynolds.
Frank Wm. Hart, of New Orleans, for appellee John Reiss.
Hall, Monroe & Lemann, of New Orleans, for appellee New Orleans Terminal Co.

Opinion:
On Motion to Dismiss Appeal.
SOMMERVILLE, J.
March 15, 1916, plaintiff obtained an order for a devolutive appeal, returnable to tbe Court of Appeal, parish of Orleans, on furnishing bond in the sum of $25. The bond was not furnished, and the appeal was not consummated.
March 21, 1916, plaintiff alleged in the district court that he had erred in moving for an appeal to the Court of Appeal, and he asked for and obtained an order of appeal to the Supreme Court.
Defendants allege that plaintiff and appellant abandoned his appeal to the Court of Appeal, and is therefore precluded from attempting to prosecute thereafter another appeal in the same matter, and ask that the appeal to this court be dismissed.
The first appeal to the Court of Appeal was never consummated by the filing of the bond named in the order of appeal. The district court retained jurisdiction of the matter, and it was within the power of said court to correct the error which had been made, and on motion of plaintiff to make the appeal returnable to the Supreme Court The first order of appeal was a nullity, as it granted the appeal to a court without jurisdiction, although the appeal might have been saved under the terms of Act 19, 1912, p. 26.
On the authorities of Jackson v. Michie, 33 La. Ann. 725, McWilliams v. Michel, 43 La. Ann. 986, 10 South. 11, and Yallee v. Hunsberry, 108 La. 136, 32 South. 359, the motion to dismiss the appeal is denied.