Background
Netty Brown owned Practical Learning Ivy League College Preparatory Academy, Inc., a day care center. In 2019, while Brown was ill, she asked Tanya Walker Wallace to help operate the center. Wallace managed compliance matters, hired staff, and implemented Square and Brightwheel software to collect tuition.
Wallace deposited tuition collected through those platforms into accounts belonging to her own company, Early Education Essentials, and later transferred money to her personal account. Brown had not authorized those deposits. After Brown discovered that Practical Learning’s accounts lacked the tuition funds, she demanded their return; Wallace did not return them. Brown and Practical Learning sued Wallace for conversion, and following a bench trial the court awarded $101,763.43 in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages and attorney fees.
The Court’s Holding
The Court of Appeals vacated the compensatory-damages award and remanded for further proceedings. The evidence supported the trial court’s finding that Brown made a repayment demand: Brown testified that she did so, and Wallace wrote a note agreeing to return the money immediately.
But the trial court improperly shifted to Wallace the burden to prove the source of the Square deposits. In a conversion action involving specific funds, the plaintiff must prove the amount of identifiable funds converted. Wallace conceded that $43,405 in Brightwheel tuition payments could be identified, but Brown still bore the burden to trace and prove any additional converted funds. Agency principles and OCGA § 10-6-29 did not relieve Brown of that burden merely because Wallace commingled funds.
Key Takeaways
- A conversion plaintiff seeking money damages must prove the specific amount of identifiable funds taken.
- Commingling by an agent does not shift the plaintiff’s burden to prove conversion damages.
- Evidence of a demand and refusal supported the conversion claim’s demand element.
Why It Matters
The decision distinguishes an agent’s duty to account from the plaintiff’s evidentiary burden in a conversion case. Even where an agent wrongfully commingles a principal’s money, the principal must trace or otherwise establish the amount of funds recoverable.