Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Illinois

Re: Getting loaned furniture back

Your friend can institute an action for replevin (an action to recover personal property wrongfully taken or withheld from a person having a superior right of possession).

She could instead make a clear demand for return of the property, and when refused, sue him for the value of the goods in an action for conversion (the unlawful appropriation of another�s property). [Note that the objective value of property is often less than what the owner subjectively believes it is.]

Sometimes filing suit is all it takes to get someone to respond reasonably to a demand for return of personal property. The small claims court jurisdictional limit is $5,000, and many find the proceedings simple enough to handle without a lawyer.

With regard to his claim that the property was given to him as a gift, he will have an uphill battle proving it. Under Illinois law, a "gift" is "a voluntary, gratuitous transfer of property by one person to another where the donor manifests an intent to make such a gift and absolutely and irrevocably delivers the property to the donee." A gift is not shown unless the donor has relinquished all present and future dominion and power over the subject matter of the gift. The alleged donee � the ex-boyfriend in this case -- has the burden of proving the existence of donative intent in the donor, and such proof must be clear and convincing in order to establish the gift. Clear and convincing can be a very hard burden to meet.