The plaintiff retail store owner entered into a consignment agreement with the individual defendant to liquidate her store's inventory on an online auction site.
The defendant failed to list the vast majority of the items, eventually disposing of most of the inventory at a municipal dump or selling it privately without accounting to the plaintiff.
The plaintiff sued for breach of contract and conversion, and the defendant counterclaimed for malicious prosecution after the plaintiff initiated a private criminal information against him.
The Superior Court of Justice found the individual defendant personally liable on the contract because he failed to adequately disclose he was acting for a corporation.
The court held the defendant breached the contract and committed conversion by wrongfully disposing of the goods.
The counterclaim for malicious prosecution was dismissed as the plaintiff had reasonable grounds and lacked malice.
The plaintiff was awarded $44,632.05 in compensatory damages and $10,000 in punitive damages for the defendant's high-handed conduct.
