111 Scherr Lane, LLC v. Triangle General Contracting, Inc.

²¹⁸ Deborah S. Eyler, J. In 2013, a commercial property at 111 Scherr Lane in Grasonville (“the Property”) was sold at foreclosure to 111 Scherr Lane, LLC (“the LLC”), the owner of the Property, and Edward Gills, the sole member of the LLC, the appellants. Thereafter, in the District Court of Maryland for Queen Anne’s County, two actions for replevin were filed against the LLC and Gills to recover personal property stored at the Property. One action was filed by appellee TECO, Inc. (“TECO”), an electrical contracting company owned by the prior owners of the Property and their family members; and the other was filed by appellee Triangle General Contractors, Inc. (“Triangle”), a lessee of the prior owners. 1 The cases were consolidated for trial and the District Court granted writs of replevin in favor of TECO and Triangle. After the writs were executed, resulting in the recovery of some, but not all, of the appellees’ property, the cases were converted to actions for detinue and transferred to the Circuit Court for Queen Anne’s County.

The circuit court bifurcated the claims, which were separately tried to the court. In TECO’s case, the court entered a final judgment of possession in its favor for property recovered under the writ and for certain property that had not been recovered; and entered judgment in TECO’s favor for $9,856.40 for the value of other property that was not recovered. The judgment was entered against the LLC and Gills, jointly and severally. In Triangle’s case, the court issued a judgment of possession in favor of Triangle for property recovered under the writ and entered a judgment against the LLC for $59,119 for items not recovered.

Gills and the LLC noted this appeal, presenting five questions for review, which we have rephrased and reordered: ²¹⁹ I. Did the circuit court err or abuse its discretion by determining that the personal property had not been abandoned?

II

Did the circuit court err or abuse its discretion by entering judgments for possession and money judgments in detinue for personal property that was not in the possession of Gills and the LLC when the replevin action was commenced?

III

Did the circuit court err or abuse its discretion by awarding damages in favor of Triangle based upon the replacement value, instead of the market value, of the personal property?

IV

Did the circuit court err or abuse its discretion by entering judgments for possession and for damages against Gills and the LLC for property that was listed as recovered on the schedule of replevied items? V. Did the circuit court abuse its discretion by entering judgment against Gills personally for actions he took on behalf of the LLC? For the following reasons, we answer these questions in the negative and shall affirm the judgments of the circuit court. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS The Property consists of a fenced, commercial lot improved with a modular home.

In 2004, Josiah Tice (“J. Tice”) and Joan Tice, his wife, purchased the Property. They did not live on the Property, but used it to store equipment for TECO, a family-owned electrical contracting business. Dennis Jay Tice (“D. Tice”), their son, is an owner and the general manager of TECO. TECO’s equipment was stored in seven trailers parked on the Property.

In late 2006 or early 2007, J. Tice entered into a verbal lease agreement with Jack Leone on behalf of his company, Triangle. Pursuant to that agreement, Triangle began storing its contracting supplies in two trailers parked on the Property and paying $50 per month in rent to J. Tice. ²²⁰ On July 16, 2013, substitute trustees on an indemnity deed of trust securing the elder Tice’s mortgage on the Property filed an order to docket foreclosure in the circuit court. Two months later, on September 17, 2013, the Property was sold at a foreclosure sale to Gills, for $94,000. J. Tice and D. Tice were present at the foreclosure sale, having hoped to purchase it on behalf of TECO.

Gills planned to use the Property in connection -with his seafood business. After the foreclosure sale, he contacted members of the Tice family several times and asked them to remove their belongings from the Property. At that time, Gills was unaware that any of the trailers belonged to Triangle. The foreclosure sale was ratified on December 13, 2013.

On February 5, 2014, Gills went to settlement, having assigned the contract of sale to his wholly-owned LLC. A substitute trustee’s deed was executed that day conveying the Property to the LLC. Thereafter, Gills padlocked the gates to the Property and posted “No Trespassing” signs. Five days later, on February 10, 2014, Gills wrote to J. Tice as follows: I am writing this letter to inform you that you have 10 days to remove your stuff from [the Property].

The [Property is now legally owned by my LLC. The courts [sic] ratification took place weeks ago. I have talked to you by phone on several occasions to no avail. I need to move on with my plans for the [Property.

I will dispose of the stuff if you have not removed it within 10 days of the writing of this letter. To access the [Property you must call [me] at [phone number] anytime. I am close and can be there in a moment. Thank you, Ed Gills, for [the LLC] In the days that followed, D. Tice, along with TECO employees, went to the Property several times to remove the TECO equipment stored there.

He brought with him a trailer ²²¹ and a skid steer. 2 According to D. Tice, two snowstorms and a rain storm made it impossible for him to remove all of TECO’s personal property within the ten-day period imposed by Gills. On Friday, February 20, 2014, Gills told D. Tice that he could enter the Property a final time the following day to remove the trailer and the skid steer, but that “everything else was his [ie., Gills’s] and [D. Tice] couldn’t have it.” On Saturday, February 21, 2014, D. Tice went to the Property. Gills was present, along with the Sheriff, and permitted D. Tice to take the two items, but nothing else. At that time, the seven TECO-owned trailers remained on the Property, as did some of their contents.

Meanwhile, Leone was still unaware that the Property had been foreclosed upon. He continued to pay $50 per month in rent. On March 12, 2014, J. Tice contacted Leone, who was in Florida, and told him that the Property had changed ownership. Leone immediately called Gills to inquire about retrieving Triangle’s personal property.

Gills told Leone that Triangle’s trailers and the equipment inside them now belonged to him (Gills). A. District Court Proceedings on Replevin Actions More than two months later, on June 2, 2014, Triangle filed an action for replevin against Gills, the LLC, and the substitute trustee in the District Court seeking return of its personal property and damages of $25,000. It alleged that two trailers—a 1986 Williams Office trailer (“Williams Trailer”) and a 1988 Strick trailer (“T-44 Trailer”)—belonging to Triangle were stored on the Property and that “approximately ninety (90) items or pieces of construction equipment” were stored in the trailers. Triangle attached to its complaint a four-page handwritten inventory of the contents of the T-44 Trailer. ²²² On June 26, 2014, TECO filed an action for replevin against Gills and the LLC in the District Court seeking return of its personal property and damages of $29,600.

It alleged that TECO owned “approximately 200 items of personal property .,. stored in trailers” on the Property. 3 TECO attached as an exhibit to its complaint a list of assets stored on the Property, including “7 ... Box Trailers and their contents,” The cases were consolidated for trial on September 26, 2014. In TECO’s case, J. Tice testified consistent with the above stated facts. D. Tice testified that the seven TECO trailers had been on the Property since 2006/2007.

The trailers contained various electrical supplies and tools, many of which had been acquired in 1998 when TECO purchased the assets of Simpson Electrical Co., Inc. A copy of the Bill of Sale reflecting that acquisition was introduced into evidence. D. Tice had marked with asterisks the items on the list that he knew were on the Property as of February 20, 2014. Those items included the seven trailers, a forklift, and various tools. He also testified that a “sea container” was on the Property. 4 D. Tice explained that when the foreclosure proceedings were commenced, he and his father still hoped that the family and/or TECO would be able to maintain title.

They attended the foreclosure sale, but were outbid by Gills. Thereafter, they did not remove TECO’s trailers from the Property because they understood that the sale was not yet finalized. They also believed they might be able to enter into an agreement with Gills to continue storing the trailers on the Property. After receiving the February 10, 2014 letter from Gills, however, D. Tice took steps to remove TECO’s property from ²²³ the Property.

He brought machinery onto the Property to remove some of the items. During the 10-day period, there were two snowstorms and a rainstorm, however, and as a result, he was unable to move very many items. He was “scheduled” to go to the Property on Friday, February 20, 2014, to “get some more stuff,” but Gills prohibited him from doing so. The following day, Gills permitted D. Tice to enter the Property to remove a “two axle trailer, skid steer, [and] a van that we had loaded, and the truck that we had towed it in there with.” He was not permitted to load any additional items.

In Triangle’s case, Leone testified that Triangle had stored two trailers on the Property since 2007: the Williams Trailer, which was 8 feet by 32 feet, and the T-44, which was a 40-foot box trailer. The T-44 Trailer was filled with “heavy construction tools and equipment, power tools, ... building records.” Leone identified an inventory of items in the trailers that he had prepared when he loaded them in 2007. He had not removed any items since then. He had added a few items to the trailers over the years and had updated the inventory list to reflect that.

The inventory was admitted into evidence (“T-44 Inventory”). Leone had not been to the Property for at least a year, possibly two or more years. He had not received any notice that a foreclosure proceeding was commenced. He had continued to pay rent to the Tices every month since 2007 until he learned of the change in ownership.

On March 12, 2014, Leone received a phone call from J. Tice advising that the Property had “changed hands.” Leone immediately called Gills, told him that two trailers on the Property belonged to Triangle, and asked about getting them back. Gills responded that the trailers and their contents had been “abandoned per the sheriff’ and that he (Gills) had “disposed of it.” Leone informed Gills that he had asked his employee to drive by the Property that morning and that his employee had observed Triangle’s trailers on the Property and also had observed someone “taking stuff out of the large trailer.” Gills ²²⁴ asked Leone what was in the trailers. Leone described the items that were contained in the trailers, which included “rough-sawn black walnut.” Gills replied, “oh, is that what that wood was?” Leone explained that black walnut is very expensive and that he wanted it back. Gills reiterated that the trailers and their contents were “abandoned property” that “belong[ed] to [him] now.” Leone flew back to Maryland from Florida and, on March 22, 2014, went to the Property.

He was able to enter the Property and he observed both of his trailers, as well as some of the trailers owned by TECO. 5 He took photographs and a video of the trailers, some of which were introduced into evidence. The trailers were open and their contents had been disturbed. Leone noticed that some of the tools that had been stored inside the T-44 Trailer were now inside the TECO trailers. More recently, Leone had driven by the Property and seen that Gills had modified the Williams Trailer, “incorporat[ing it] into some kind of structure on the [P]roperty as part of the seafood market.” A sign for Gills’s business was attached to the Williams trailer.

Gills testified that when he purchased the Property, it looked like a “junk yard.” There were “[l]ogs, piles of debris, brush, tires” all over. He began cleaning it up, but did not remove any items “that [weren’t] [his].” Beginning a few weeks after the foreclosure sale, he called J. Tice “at least six or seven times” to try to make arrangements for the TECO trailers and other property to be removed. J. Tice said he would “talk with his son and ... get back to [Gills],” but never followed through. J. Tice’s girlfriend arranged to have a truck body that belonged to her towed from the Property.

After the LLC took possession of the Property, Gills wrote the February 10, 2014 letter. He left the Property unlocked during the 10-day period. He had several “amiable” conversations with D. Tice during that period and saw him on the ²²⁵ Property multiple times loading items into a van and otherwise removing TECO’s property. At the expiration of the 10-day period, Gills let D. Tice remove a loaded van and the skid steer, but otherwise excluded him from the Property.

Gills believed that the TECO property was considered abandoned as of that date. Thereafter, Gills began “remov[ing] everything that wasn’t nailed down[,] ... pil[ing] it all up into dumpsters and [having] the scrap people come and take it away.” He had contracted with Schultz <& Son, a local scrap metal company, for that purpose. He scrapped at least four trailers and a lot of other “junk” that was inside the trailers. According to Gills, when he was served in the two replevin actions in June 2014, the only items belonging to Triangle or TECO left on the Property were the Williams Trailer, which Gills had converted to use for his business; the T-44 trailer; a sea container; a 28-foot trailer; wooden poles; and some other items that had been stored inside the trailers.

Gills spent more than $1,100 improving the Williams Trailer by adding a floor, a ceiling, and walls; wiring it for electricity; installing a light fixture; and painting it. He raised the trailer up on cinder blocks next to the loading dock on the Property. On cross-examination, Gills testified that he could not recall how much he had been paid by the scrapyard for the items he removed from the Property, but it was more than $1,000. He was paid by weight, after certain deductions for transportation costs and disposal of items that could not be scrapped.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the court held the matter sub curia and directed the parties to return on October 17, 2014, for it to issue its ruling. A week before that happened, however, TECO and Triangle filed a motion to admit additional evidence, attaching an affidavit by D. Tice. He averred that following the September 26, 2014 trial, he drove to 101 Drummer Drive in Grasonville, a property owned by Gills, and saw a Case Model 580 forklift parked there. He checked the serial number on the identification plate and determined that it was the forklift owned by TECO that was included in the inventory ²²⁶ list entered into evidence at trial.

In his testimony, Gills had not identified the forklift as an item of property remaining in his possession. The District Court granted the motion to reopen and, on October 17, 2014, held an evidentiary hearing. D. Tice testified consistent with his affidavit. He stated that the forklift had been present at the Property between February 10, 2014, and February 20, 2014.

When asked why he did not remove the forklift during that 10-day period, he responded that its battery was dead. Gills testified that he had had the forklift towed from the Property to a repair shop sometime after February 20, 2014. He replaced the transmission, engine, tires, hydraulic system, carburetor, fuel tank, fuel valves, condenser wires, and spark plugs. He had not mentioned the fork lift in his prior testimony because “it’s not a trailer.” He maintained that his testimony about the items that were present on his Property when the replevin actions were filed otherwise was accurate.

On cross-examination, Gills was asked about the items presently stored in the trailers that remained on the Property. Gills recalled seeing “screws and washers and bolts and junk,” some “hand tools and shovels,” a “lot of hoses,” two ladders, and “some cords.” He also had seen the “wood” Leone had testified about, apparently referring to the black walnut. Everything else had been scrapped or taken to the dump. TECO and Triangle also introduced into evidence a Schultz & Son record showing four payouts for scrap to Gills totaling $14,368.

The first payout was made on March 25, 2014, in the amount of $5,351.60 for 54,820 pounds of metal. That ticket reflected deductions for disposal of ten truck tires and other trash. The second payout was made on April 29, 2014, in the amount of $6,916.40 for 59,880 pounds of metal. That ticket reflected deductions for disposal of more than 50 truck tires and 2 passenger tires, as well as trash disposal.

The last two payouts were made on June 9 and 10, 2014, totaling $2,100 for 9,600 pounds of metal. ²²⁷ At the conclusion of the hearing, the parties submitted post-trial memoranda. The appellants argued that Triangle and TECO abandoned their property when they left it on the Property and did not return to reclaim it in the months following the foreclosure sale and thereafter. They argued, moreover, that an action for replevin only may be brought against a party in possession of the personal property and that the evidence showed that at the time the suit was initiated, the only personal property in the possession of Gills and the LLC were three trailers and some items inside them. On this basis, Gills and the LLC asked the court to grant judgment in their favor as to the remaining personal property claimed by TECO and Triangle.

Gills and the LLC asserted, moreover, that if Triangle and TECO were entitled to replevy the trailers, then they (Gills and the LLC) were entitled to a lien on those items for the costs incurred in storing them on the Property. Finally, Gills argued that he had no personal liability for any actions taken on behalf of the LLC. Triangle and TECO argued that there was no evidence that they ever had manifested an affirmative intention to abandon their personal property at the Property. On the contrary, the evidence showed that the Tices were actively trying to remove TECO’s property when Gills barred them from the Property and Leone was paying rent to store his property until he learned of the foreclosure sale, at which time he immediately contacted Gills to arrange for the return of his trailers.

On November 13, 2014, the court reconvened and announced its ruling, documented in a Memorandum Opinion and Order filed that same day. The court credited Gills’s testimony that he contacted the Tices after the foreclosure sale took place and asked them to remove TECO’s personal property, but they did not do so. At that time, Gills was the equitable owner of the Property, but did not yet hold legal title, and therefore did not have authority to order the Tices (or Leone) to remove their property. The court credited D. Tice’s testimony that he (and his father) did not take steps to remove their property right after the foreclosure sale because they understood that “the process wasn’t over” and that they were not yet obligated ²²⁸ to do so.

Their decision to wait until legal title passed to the LLC indicated “procrastination,” not abandonment, in the court’s view. In any event, the Tices’ response to the February 10, 2014 letter clearly evinced an intent “not to abandon [their] property” because they came to the Property to haul some of it away and asked to be allowed to return after the expiration of the 10-day period. (Emphasis in original.) With respect to Triangle, the court found “no basis” to conclude that it had abandoned its personal property. It credited Leone’s testimony that as soon as he learned of the foreclosure, in March 2014, he contacted Gills and “demanded return of his property.” The court then turned to the “most difficult issues ... [of] what particular property is at issue for purposes of the replevin action and what degree of proof is required to prove its possession by [Gills and the LLC] at the time of the commencement of the action.” Gills had acknowledged that the two Triangle-owned trailers and one TECO-owned trailer remained on the Property, along with the sea container, wooden poles, black walnut wood, and miscellaneous tools and hardware.

The Case forklift also was at Gills’s property on Drummer Drive. With respect to that property, the Court found that Gills and the LLC were “unlawfully detaining it] and that TECO [was] entitled to its return.” Turning to the personal property that Gills and the LLC did not admit they still possessed, the court found that D. Tice and Leone’s testimony established possession of that property as of February 20, 2014 (with respect to TECO) and March 22, 2014 (with respect to Triangle). The court reasoned that the general rule is that “ ‘possession of personal property ... proved to exist at some time prior to the commencement of an action to recover such property, is presumed to continue until the contrary is established,’ ” and found that the appellants had not presented credible evidence to rebut that presumption. (Quoting Sufficiency of proof in replevin of defendant’s possession at time of commencement of action, 2 A.L.J.2d 1043). ²²⁹ The court issued a writ of replevin in favor of TECO for the forklift; seven trailers; a trailer dolly; a sea container; “several wood poles”; three boring and piercing tools; and a pump.

The court issued a writ of replevin in favor of Triangle for the Williams Trailer; the T-44 Trailer; the black walnut wood; and “all items listed on [the T-44 Inventory].” 6 Triangle and TECO each were required to post a bond of $5,000. On August 13, 2015, the Queen Anne’s County Sheriff executed the writs of replevin. 7 The sheriff completed a “Schedule of Goods Replevied” for each appellee. As to TECO, the items listed as replevied on the schedule were a 1968 Fruehauf box trailer; a trailer dolly; a sea container; and “several wood poles.” Inside the box trailer were miscellaneous tools and materials that Gills had advised the sheriff were “all junk.” As to Triangle, the items listed as replevied were the Williams Trailer; black walnut lumber; and twenty miscellaneous tools and items of construction equipment. 8 The sheriff noted that all of these items were clearly marked with Triangle’s name and logo. Seven similarly marked items that ²³⁰ were not listed on Triangle’s inventory also were located but were not replevied.

B. Circuit Court Proceedings on Detinue Action In November 2015, the cases were transferred to the circuit court for a merits trial because the value of the property at issue exceeded the monetary jurisdiction of the District Court. The circuit court bifurcated the claims by TECO and Triangle for trial. TECO’s claims were tried on February 2, 2016. In its case, TECO called D. Tice and Amber Schultz, a former office assistant at Schultz & Son.

In addition to reiterating his prior testimony, D. Tice testified that six trailers, two piercing tools, a pump, and a trencher belonging to TECO “remain[ed] unrecovered.” When asked whether he knew why those items were no longer at the Property, he replied, “[t]hey were taken to the scrap yard.” Amber Schultz testified that she worked as an office assistant at Schultz & Son, a full service scrap yard, for eight and a half years, including during all of 2014. She was in charge of invoices and statements. She was asked about the metal scrapped by Gills in 2014, as evidenced on the Schultz & Son payment ticket. She testified that the March 25, 2014 transaction reflected that Gills had scrapped two steel trailers and one aluminum trailer.

The ticket reflected a $310 deduction for trash, which Schultz explained meant that the scrapyard had hauled to the landfill “material inside of the trailers,” such as wood and debris. The April 29, 2014 ticket reflected that Gills had scrapped five more trailers. That ticket also reflected a trash deduction. The June 2014 transactions were for roll-off containers that Schultz & Son provided to Gills to fill and return.

As mentioned earlier, the scrap payments made to Gills totaled $14,368. Gills testified that he contacted Schultz & Son within days after February 20, 2014, and arranged for all but one of the TECO trailers to be hauled off the Property and scrapped. He said that the March and April 2014 payment tickets reflected ²³¹ the scrap value of all those items (as well as some of his own personal property). The June 2014 transactions were unrelated to the TECO property.

At the close of the evidence, counsel for TECO argued that because the trailers and the personal property inside them belonged to TECO and TECO had not abandoned that property, Gills had “unlawfully converted it” when he claimed it to be his own and had it scrapped. He asked the court to enter a money judgment in favor of TECO in the amount of the Schultz & Son payment tickets. Counsel for Gills and the LLC responded that this was a “clear case of abandonment” in light of the five month period between the foreclosure sale and the date when the Tices were prohibited from entering the Property to retrieve any more personal property. He pointed out that the evidence showed the TECO property that had not been replevied all had been scrapped by April 29, 2014, “long before suit was filed in this matter.” He argued that if the court were to find that the property was not abandoned and that an action for replevin could be maintained, any award of damages should be limited to the scrap value of the trailers reflected on the March and April 2014 payment tickets from Schultz & Son, not the June 2014 tickets, and that any judgment should be entered against the LLC, not Gills personally.

Triangle’s claim was tried on March 15, 2016. In its case, Triangle called Leone and Eston E. Hoffman, an auctioneer and personal property appraiser. Leone testified that the T-44 Inventory was prepared by two of his employees in around 2010, when he temporarily was “winding ... down” Triangle’s “heavy construction business” in favor of “more residential and light commercial” business. Leone stored the tools and equipment in the T-44 Trailer, rather than selling them, because he anticipated restarting his company’s heavy construction business and he would need to “have th[o]se tools available for our use at that time.” All of Triangle’s tools and equipment were painted orange and were stenciled with the company name.

They were stored in a “very orderly and ²³² organized fashion,” with tools in their boxes and on shelving within the trailer. Leone further testified that on August 13, 2015, when the writ of replevin was executed, he recovered the T-44 Trailer, but not the Williams Trailer. He explained that the Williams Trailer could not be towed off the Property because it was four-feet off the ground on cinder blocks and no longer had wheels attached. There were tools and equipment inside the T-44 Trailer when it was replevied, but much of Triangle’s personal property was missing.

The tools and equipment that were present all were in a “big heap in the middle of the trailer.” After he reclaimed the T-44 Trailer, Leone inventoried the items within it and then hired Hoffman to give him an appraisal of the “equipment that wasn’t there.” Hoffman was accepted by the court as an expert in the field of appraisal and auctioneer services. He testified that he had appraised property for Leone around 2010/2011, including the inventory of the T-44 Trailer. At that time, Leone had sold some of his heavy construction tools and equipment. The appraised value assigned by Mr. Hoffman was significantly lower than the price the items ultimately sold for at auction.

In 2015, Leone asked Hoffman to assign a value to the missing tools and equipment. Hoffman determined a “replacement value,” as opposed to a market value, for the tools and equipment that had been stored in the T-44 Trailer but were no longer in the trailer when the writ of replevin was executed. He explained that he used that method because the “tools [would] have to be replaced [if] Mr. Leone ... wanted to go into business tomorrow.” He opined that that method produced a replacement value of $59,119 for the tools. Hoffman’s report detailing how he arrived at that figure was introduced into evidence.

We shall discuss it in more detail, infra. In his case, Gills testified, recalled Leone, and called two witnesses: his wife and bookkeeper for the LLC, Donna Gills (“Donna”); and Edward Nelson, an auctioneer. Gills testified that he disposed of TECO’s property after February 20, 2014, but did not dispose of any of Triangle’s property. He claimed ²³³ that everything stored in the T-44 trailer when he took title to the Property remained there until the writ of replevin was executed.

Photographs of the inside of the T-44 trailer that he took at some point after the replevin action was filed were introduced into evidence. By stipulation, Nelson was accepted as an expert in the fields of appraisal and auctioneering services. He explained the difference between the “replacement value” and “market value” methods of valuation. In the former method, the appraiser assigns “a dollar amount ... to go out somewhere and [buy the item].” In the latter method, the appraiser determines how much the item in its current condition would sell for at auction.

Nelson reviewed the photographs of the tools taken by Gills and, using the market value method, determined that the total value of the tools that had been stored in the T-44 Trailer, but were not replevied, was $8,695. Donna testified that she was present when her husband opened the T-44 Trailer. She saw that the contents of the trailer were “rusty” with a “thick layer of dust,” She did not believe that any of the contents were removed from the Property before the writ of replevin was executed. At the conclusion of the evidence, counsel for Triangle argued that the court should find that all the items listed in Triangle’s inventory were present on the Property when the action was commenced and to award damages for the value of the items not replevied based upon the the valuation opinion offered by Hoffman.

Counsel for Gills and the LLC argued that the Williams Trailer and the black walnut wood were not at issue because both were listed as having been replevied by the sheriff. He further argued that the court should credit Gills’s testimony that the items that were replevied were all the items stored in the T-44 Trailer. He argued that if the court were inclined to grant a monetary judgment, it should be entered against the LLC only, not against Gills, and it should be for an amount based upon Nelson’s valuation opinion. He argued that a market value valuation was more appropriate in this case ²³⁴ because Leone had testified that he began storing his equipment at the Property because he no longer was engaging in heavy general contracting work.

On June 5, 2016, the court entered memorandum opinions and orders on the bifurcated claims. In TECO’s case, it adopted the “rationale and reasoning” of the District Court in rejecting the abandonment defense. It found that “even a cursory analysis of the facts shows that [TECO] did not intend to walk away from their property, and [was] taking multiple active steps to recover it in what Gills admits were three attempts during the unilaterally imposed 10 day window.” The court credited Gills’s testimony that he had had all but one of TECO’s trailers hauled away to be scrapped and the contents otherwise disposed of within days after he barred the Tices from the Property. On that basis it found that the Schultz & Son payment tickets from March and April 2014 reflected the scrap value of the trailers and that the June 2014 payment ticket was unrelated to TECO’s property.

The court entered judgment of possession in favor of TECO for four items replevied on August 13, 2015. From the scrap tickets, it found that seven trailers were scrapped in March and April 2014. 9 The writs of replevin sought the return of nine trailers—seven belonging to TECO and two belonging to Triangle—and two trailers were replevied—one belonging to TECO and one belonging to Triangle. Thus, the court reasoned that six of the scrapped trailers belonged to TECO. Because it could not determine from the scrap tickets which trailers were TECO’s and because TECO had not adduced any other valuation evidence, the court entered judgment in favor of TECO for the six trailers with the lowest scrap value, for a total of $9,856.40.

The court entered judgment against the LLC and Gills, jointly and severally, because the Schultz & Son payment tickets showed payment had been made to Gills, individually, not to the LLC. The court also noted the lack of any evidence that Gills had been acting in a representative capacity when he sold the trailers for scrap. The court entered ²³⁵ judgment of possession in favor of TECO for the “non-replevied property [that] ... cannot be valued,” consisting of the forklift, the piercing and boring tools, the pump, and the trencher. In Triangle’s case, the court credited Leone’s testimony about the tools and equipment stored in the T-44 Trailer and his actions upon learning that the LLC had taken title to the Property.

The court found Gills not to be credible. It noted that Gills had changed his testimony between the District Court and circuit court proceedings with respect to whether he had disposed of any personal property stored in the T-44 trailer. It found that Gills had hoped to “gain a windfall at the expense of others” by selling and repurposing Triangle’s (and TECO’s) property. The court ruled that Triangle had proved that the property identified on the writ of replevin all belonged to it and all had been present at the Property in March 2014.

The court entered a judgment of possession in favor of Triangle with respect to the replevied property. The court then turned to damages relative to the personal property that was not replevied, which the court found to include the black walnut wood and the Williams Trailer. The court found both valuation experts to be credible, noting that they reached “wildly different valuations” simply because each used a different approach to valuation. The court determined that the evidence supported the award of the replacement value of the personal property, as opined by Hoffman, rather than the market value, as opined by Nelson.

We shall discuss this ruling in greater detail below. The court entered a judgment in detinue in favor of Triangle and against the LLC for $59,119. These timely appeals followed. DISCUSSION I. Gills and the LLC contend the circuit court erred as a matter of law by ruling that TECO and Triangle had not ²³⁶ abandoned their personal property on the Property.

They maintain that the evidence showed that Triangle’s property was left “unattended from September 17, 2018 through June 2, 2014, when Triangle filed suit” and that TECO’s property was left unattended through June 26, 2014, when it filed suit. This argument is without merit. In Nickens v. Mount Vernon Realty Group, LLC, 429 Md. 53 , 54 A.3d 742 (2012), the Court of Appeals considered, in pertinent part, whether a foreclosure purchaser unlawfully converted the personal property of an occupant of the foreclosed upon property when it disposed of that property after employing peaceable self-help to take possession of the property. The Court held that while the foreclosure purchaser had the right to use self-help to enter and take possession of the real property and to exclude others from entering, the purchaser only could dispose of the personal property if it had been abandoned by the former occupant. “[Abandonment entails the relinquishment of any interest to the property” and may be shown by evidence that the “owner has ‘walk[ed] off and [left] [the property] with no intention to again claim it or exercise rights of ownership over it.’ ” Id. at 77-78 , 54 A.3d 742 (quoting Steinbraker v. Crouse, 169 Md. 453, 457-58 , 182 A. 448 (1936)).

In the case at bar, the circuit court adopted the non-clearly erroneous findings made by the District Court that neither TECO nor Triangle had abandoned their property. These findings are amply supported by the record, which shows that the Tices, upon receiving the February 10, 2014 letter, made immediate and repeated efforts to recover their personal property, continuing until they were excluded from the Property by Gills on February 21, 2014; and that Leone demanded the return of his personal property the same day he received notice that the Property had been foreclosed upon. This evidence plainly showed an affirmative intent on the parts of TECO and Triangle not to relinquish their interest in their tools, trailers, equipment, and other items of personal proper ²³⁷ ty stored at the Property and supported the circuit court’s determination that that property had not been abandoned.

II

Gills and the LLC contend the circuit court erred by awarding damages to TECO and Triangle for personal property that was not replevied because it was not in their (Gills’s and the LLC’s) possession on the dates the replevin actions were filed. TECO and Triangle respond that, having met their burden with respect to the element of possession at the replevin stage of the proceedings, they were not obligated to prove the element of