IMPORTS CO INC v. HARTSTEIN (2010)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Shirley Werner Kornreich, J.), entered February 2, 2009, after an inquest in an action for conversion, in favor of plaintiff and against defendants in the principal amount of $1,600,948.93, plus interest, costs and disbursements, unanimously modified, on the law, to reduce the principal amount of the award to $1,299,088.93, the matter remanded for recalculation of interest, and otherwise affirmed, without costs.

 We reject defendants' contention that plaintiff was required to prove, at the inquest, the number of specifically identifiable pieces of its jewelry that were in the individual defendant's possession and the value of each specific piece.   We note that defendants do not seek review of the prior order that granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability.

 The court correctly found that plaintiff's computer database was a business record (see Ed Guth Realty v. Gingold, 34 N.Y.2d 440, 451, 358 N.Y.S.2d 367, 315 N.E.2d 441 [1974] ), and then properly admitted a print-out from the database (see People v. Weinberg, 183 A.D.2d 932, 933, 586 N.Y.S.2d 132 [1992], lv. denied 80 N.Y.2d 977, 591 N.Y.S.2d 147, 605 N.E.2d 883 [1992];  see also Guth, 34 N.Y.2d at 452, 358 N.Y.S.2d 367, 315 N.E.2d 441).

 The court erred, however, in including plaintiff's profits in the damages for conversion (see Fantis Foods v. Standard Importing Co., 49 N.Y.2d 317, 326, 425 N.Y.S.2d 783, 402 N.E.2d 122 [1980];  Long Playing Sessions v. Deluxe Labs., 129 A.D.2d 539, 514 N.Y.S.2d 737 [1987] ).   Plaintiff does not claim the converted items were irreplaceable (cf. Fantis, 49 N.Y.2d at 326, 425 N.Y.S.2d 783, 402 N.E.2d 122;  Barrington v. Offenbach, 163 N.Y.S. 423, 426 [1917] ).