Antonio Trujillo v. Bernard J. Vodde (mem. dec.)

MEMORANDUM DECISION FILED
Aug 11 2016, 9:56 am
Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D),
this Memorandum Decision shall not be CLERK
Indiana Supreme Court
regarded as precedent or cited before any Court of Appeals
and Tax Court
court except for the purpose of establishing
the defense of res judicata, collateral
estoppel, or the law of the case.
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE
Anthony S. Churchward R. David Boyer
Anthony S. Churchward, P.C. Boyer & Boyer
Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
Antonio Trujillo, August 11, 2016
Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Cause No.
02A03-1601-SC-45
v. Appeal from the Allen Superior
Court
Bernard J. Vodde, The Honorable Brian D. Cook,
Appellee-Plaintiff. Magistrate
Trial Court Cause No.
02D09-1508-SC-12882
Barnes, Judge.
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Case Summary
[1] Antonio Trujillo appeals a judgment against him for $5,000.00 in favor of
Bernard Vodde. We reverse.
Issue
[2] The sole issue before us is whether there is sufficient evidence to support the
judgment.
Facts
[3] On August 1, 2015, Vodde was on the front porch of his home in Fort Wayne
when three boys approached him and began talking to him. Vodde recognized
only one of the boys, sixteen-year-old K.T., who is Trujillo’s son. Vodde and
his wife offered the boys a drink and talked to them about various items in
Vodde’s garage. During the conversation, one or two of the boys left the garage
and then came back. Vodde never saw any of the boys enter his house. After
the boys left, Vodde went inside his house and noticed a number of items
missing, including a wallet, a handgun, some food and beverages, and a large
amount of jewelry. Later, one of the boys, whom Vodde did not identify,
returned Vodde’s wallet to him, missing the credit cards and cash it had
contained.
[4] Police detained K.T. and questioned him regarding the missing property from
Vodde’s home. K.T. denied ever entering Vodde’s home or taking any property
from him, and he refused to identify the two boys who were with him.
Eventually, K.T. was alleged to have committed disorderly conduct, based on
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his conduct while being detained by the police, and he was found to be
delinquent for committing that offense.
[5] On August 17, 2015, Vodde filed an action in small claims court against
Trujillo, alleging K.T. was involved in the theft of items from his home and
seeking to hold Trujillo liable for K.T.’s conduct. The small claims court
conducted a bench trial on November 12, 2015. Afterwards, the court entered
judgment in favor of Vodde for $5,000.00. Trujillo now appeals and has
obtained a certified statement of the evidence pursuant to Indiana Appellate
Rule 31 because no transcript of the trial was available.
Analysis
[6] Trujillo contends there is insufficient evidence that his son K.T. was in any way
involved with the theft of items from Vodde’s home. “Judgments in small
claims actions are ‘subject to review as prescribed by relevant Indiana rules and
statutes.’” Trinity Homes, LLC v. Fang, 848 N.E.2d 1065, 1067 (Ind. 2006)
(quoting Ind. Small Claims Rule 11(A)). Pursuant to Indiana Trial Rule 52(A),
we apply the clearly erroneous standard of review to facts determined in a
bench trial with due regard given to the opportunity of the trial court to assess
witness credibility. Id. “This ‘deferential standard of review is particularly
important in small claims actions, where trials are “informal, with the sole
objective of dispensing speedy justice between the parties according to the rules
of substantive law.”’” Id. at 1067-68 (quoting City of Dunkirk Water & Sewage
Dep’t v. Hall, 657 N.E.2d 115, 116 (Ind. 1995) (in turn quoting S.C.R. 8(A)).
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[7] “A person who has suffered a pecuniary loss as a result of a criminal conversion
may bring a civil action to recover the loss, and in such a civil action must
prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant committed the
criminal act.” Schrenker v. State, 919 N.E.2d 1188, 1193 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010),
trans. denied. However, while mens rea must be proven in a criminal case, it
need not be in a civil case. Id. at 1194.
Conversion, as a tort, is the appropriation of the personal
property of another to the party’s own use and benefit, or in its
destruction, or in exercising dominion over it, in exclusion and
defiance of the rights of the owner or lawful possessor, or in
withholding it from his possession, under a claim and title
inconsistent with the owner’s.
Id.[8] A tort claim cannot be proven solely by inferential speculation. Colen v. Pride
Vending Serv., 654 N.E.2d 1159, 1163 (Ind. Ct. App. 1995), trans. denied.
“Testimony based on conjecture or speculation is insufficient to support a
claim.” Id. Evidence fails as a matter of law to support a claim if an intended
inference rests on no more than speculation or conjecture and the intended
interference cannot reasonably and logically be drawn from the evidence. Id.[9] Here, Vodde admitted during his testimony that he never saw any of the three
boys he was talking to on August 1, 2015, enter his home. He did state that one
of the three boys later returned his wallet to him, emptied of cash and credit
cards, but he did not identify which boy it was or whether it was K.T. There is
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no evidence K.T. ever confessed to being involved with the theft of Vodde’s
property or that anyone else ever implicated K.T. in the theft.
[10] Vodde suggests that K.T. was arrested for theft and that he “accepted a plea
related to his disorderly conduct.” Appellee’s Br. p. 7. The record before us, as
reflected in the certified statement of the evidence, does not indicate that K.T.
ever was arrested for theft, as opposed to merely being suspected of and
questioned about it by police; there likewise is no evidence that K.T. pled guilty
to disorderly conduct in order to avoid prosecution for theft. Additionally,
Vodde argues that “no other person” could possibly bear responsibility for the
theft and that if Trujillo wants to avoid the judgment, K.T. should name the
other two boys he was with at Vodde’s house. Id. at 8. Vodde cites no
authority for the proposition that a civil judgment can or should be used as
leverage to force a criminal suspect to talk to authorities, regardless of whether
there is evidence to support such a judgment.
[11] It is possible to speculate that K.T. was involved in the theft of items from
Vodde’s home. But speculation and conjecture alone are not enough to support
a judgment. The most the evidence demonstrates is that K.T. was present
outside Vodde’s home near in time to the theft of the items, while in the
company of two unidentified boys, and that a boy later returned Vodde’s empty
wallet to him but Vodde did not identify who that boy was. As a matter of law,
this fails to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that K.T. was involved in
the theft of Vodde’s property.
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Conclusion
[12] The small claims court’s judgment that Trujillo is liable to Vodde for his son
K.T.’s purported theft of Vodde’s property is clearly erroneous. We reverse the
judgment in Vodde’s favor.
[13] Reversed.
Vaidik, C.J., and Mathias, J., concur.
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