Smith V. Maximum Racing
By Third District, at Austin Texas Court of Appeals
- Release Date: 2004-05-13
- Genre: Law
Description
This dispute arises out of the termination of an agreement between appellant Glen Smith and appellee Maximum Racing, Inc. Maximum Racing agreed to provide Smith's son, Casey, with race cars and other equipment. When the agreement ended, Smith refused to return one racing car, alleging that Maximum Racing owed him money for "compensable work." Maximum Racing prevailed in its countersuit for conversion after a jury found that Smith had not performed work entitling him to a lien on the automobile. At issue is whether a theory of recovery composed of multiple elements, only one of which is submitted to the jury and the remainder of which are omitted without objection, is waived if it is neither included in the jury charge nor conclusively established by the evidence presented at trial. We also consider whether the good-faith exercise of statutory rights constitutes a defense to the tort of conversion. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the trial court's judgment.
