Thomas Mote Trucking Inc. v. PCL Constructors Inc.

Barkay Construction, Inc. sold PCL Civil Constructors, Inc. a slip form machine used to build curbs and gutters. Thomas Mote Trucking, Inc., later took the machine, claiming that Barkay had previously transferred the machine to it. PCL sued Thomas Mote Trucking for trover.1 Following a bench trial, the trial court ruled that PCL had title to the machine and ordered Thomas Mote Trucking to return it, but awarded PCL no damages for hire for the period of wrongful detention. In Case No. A00A1528, Thomas Mote Trucking appeals, asserting that the trial court erred in determining that PCL owns the machine. In Case No. A00A1529, PCL appeals the court’s failure to award damages. Because both cases involve the same operative facts, we have consolidated them. For reasons that follow, we affirm the trial court’s ruling that PCL owns the machine, reverse the zero damages award, and remand for a redetermination of damages.

The record shows that Barbara Roberts formed Barkay Construction Company in 1993. In the fall of 1993, Thomas Mote, the president of Thomas Mote Trucking, offered to loan Barkay a sum of money. During 1993 and 1994, Mote loaned Barkay a total of $31,260. In exchange, Roberts executed two unsecured promissory notes in favor of Mote. One note was due in November 1994, and the other was due in March 1995. Roberts also issued Mote shares of stock in Barkay, making him a 49 percent owner of the company.