Court Opinion

ID: 9855594
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:27:51.892922+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:36:14.097168
License: Public Domain

BLATZ, Chief Justice,
(concurring in part, dissenting in part).
I concur with the majority opinion that the intentional dominion or control necessary for conversion cannot be shown by accidental destruction of the vehicle involved in the collision. I also agree with the majority holding that “closer to the risk analysis” is inappropriate under the circumstances presented here. I respectfully disagree, however, with the disposition of this case. To conclude that Christensen, who had consumed “about six beers” before taking the van for a drive and who was convicted of driving under the influence, did not convert the school district’s van effectively collapses the “theft or conversion” exception into a theft exception.
In my view, Christensen’s decision to drink excessively and drive constitutes conversion: “an act of willful interference with [the personal property of another] done, without lawful justification, by which any person entitled thereto is deprived of use and possession.” Larson v. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., 226 Minn. 315, 317, 32 N.W.2d 649, 650 (1948). It is this choice to drink excessively and use another’s property — not the destruction of the property — that constitutes the requisite wrongful intent necessary for conversion. Quoting from the Restatement commentary, the majority recognizes that the actor need not “intend to commit what he knows to be * * * a conversion” and that “[t]he intention necessary to subject to liability one who deprives another of the possession of his chattel is merely the intention to deal with the chattel so that such disposition results.” (Emphasis added.)
Nonetheless, after quoting approvingly from the Restatement commentary, the majority immediately states “[a] wrongful intent to appropriate chattel for one’s own purposes is the essence of the ‘conversion or theft’ exception.” This is a misstatement of the law, as it redefines conversion to mean theft and effectively eliminates the exception of conversion from the initial permission rule. Such a holding departs from the principles set forth in our prior case law. See Milbank Mut. Ins. Co. v. United States Fid. & Guaranty Co., 332 N.W.2d 160 (Minn.1983). The rule enunciated by the majority makes it difficult— perhaps impossible — to imagine any fact scenario other than theft that would prevent an owner from being vicariously lia*589ble. Therefore, I respectfully dissent and would reverse the court of appeals.