Welch v. Kosasky

509 N.E.2d 919 (1987)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

In 1974, a thief stole twelve lots of valuable antique silver from Mrs.Welch’s (P) home. A month later Kosasky (D) purchased 11 of the lots from a dealer in Brookline for $2,750. The price P had paid 12 years before was in excess of $40,000. In 1981, D approached a Boston dealer to sell the silver. Nine of the eleven lots were purchased for $40,000. One of the two lots not purchased was a set of three James II castors that P had purchased for $7,500 in 1971. The dealer recommended that they be restored to their original form and D sent them off to London. In 1981, P saw two of the stolen items in the dealer’s store window. Over the next year, P succeeded in recovering all the stolen items that had been purchased by D. P then sued in conversion and for damages to the James II castors. P got the judgment and the judge gave her damages of $10,000 for the loss of the silver for the 8 years, and $22,000 in diminution of value for the castors and $5,000 in consequential damages representing in part a fee of $994.78 paid to an attorney in connection with the recovery of the castors in London and in part of a $10,000 fee paid to another attorney who performed services to locate and recover all the items stolen including other works of art not mentioned in this suit. D appealed the diminution in value judgment.