Dickens v. DeBolt

This was an action for conversion of a sturgeon and a water ski rope belonging to plaintiff. Defendant is a state police officer. A jury returned a verdict for $250 compensatory and $750 punitive damages. From the resulting judgment, defendant appeals. We reverse.

On Saturday, September 10, 1977, plaintiff, his uncle and their wives went fishing on the Columbia River at a pump platform below John Day Dam. At sunset plaintiff caught a 43 1/2-inch sturgeon. He estimated that it weighed 40-45 pounds. He tied one end of a water ski rope through the sturgeon’s gills, put the fish back into the…