Kingman v. Weightman

Summary

The Montana Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for Thomas Weightman on Miles Kingman’s conversion claim concerning a wristwatch held as evidence by the Bozeman Police Department. The court held that the claim accrued no later than May 1, 2012, six months after completion of Kingman’s criminal case, and was barred by Montana’s two-year statute of limitations when filed in July 2015.

Holdings

1. Kingman's allegation that Weightman exercised unauthorized dominion over the watch was properly treated as a conversion claim, and conversion claims are subject to Montana's two-year limitations period for property torts under section 27-2-207, MCA.
2. Kingman's conversion claim accrued, at the latest, on May 1, 2012, six months after completion of his criminal case, because all elements of conversion were then present.
3. The conversion claim was time-barred because the two-year limitations period expired on May 1, 2014, more than a year before Kingman filed suit on July 9, 2015.
4. The Court declined to consider Kingman's argument for a longer contract limitations period because it was a new theory raised for the first time on appeal.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the District Court erred by holding that the statute of limitations had run on Kingman's conversion claim.
2. Whether the claim accrued no later than six months after completion of Kingman's criminal case under Montana's accrual and seized-property statutes.
3. Whether Kingman could invoke the longer statute of limitations for contract claims when that theory was raised for the first time on appeal.

Disposition

affirmed