In this civil action, John Harrison sued Leslie and Michael Washington, alleging conversion of personal property as well as several other tort claims. Following a bench trial, the trial court issued an order and judgment in favor of Harrison as to his conversion claim. The Washingtons appeal, arguing that the trial court erred in finding that they converted Harrison’s property and in finding that Harrison provided sufficient evidence to support the damages award for the conversion. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand for a determination of damages. “While we apply a de novo standard of review to any questions of law decided by the trial court, factual findings made after a bench trial shall not be set aside unless clearly erroneous, and due regard shall be given to the opportunity of the trial court to judge the credibility of witnesses. OCGA § 9-11-52 a” Punctuation omitted. Gooch v. Tudor .1 “Because the clearly erroneous test is in effect the same standard as the any evidence rule, appellate courts will not disturb fact findings of a trial court if there is any evidence to sustain them.” Punctuation omitted. Lifestyle Home Rentals, LLC v. Rahman .2
So viewed, the evidence shows that this matter involves two adjoining lots of property, which are located at 2335 Hillside Road, Fulton County, Georgia and which were designated as the front lot and rear lot. In 1991, L. W. Taylor the owner at the time intended to sell the entire property to Gwenerdette Battle. However, the warranty deed provided to Ms. Battle mistakenly only described the front lot of the property. This recording error went unnoticed, and thus in 1999, when Ms. Battle sold the property to John Harrison, she executed a warranty deed, which again mistakenly only described the front lot. Believing that he owned both lots, Harrison moved into the house on the front lot and stored numerous items of personal property, including automobiles, automobile engines, sports equipment, and various machinist tools, in the two storage buildings located on the adjoining rear lot.
