## Facts

- Ash timber was wrongfully cut and removed from land described as the Oneida Indian reservation in Wisconsin, owned by the United States.
- The cutting and removal were done by Indians who were not parties to the suit.
- The timber (242 cords) was transported to Depere, Wisconsin, and sold there to E. E. Bolles Wooden Ware Co.
- The company purchased the timber without bad faith or intentional wrongdoing.
- The timber’s value was $0.25 per cord at the place of cutting (total $60.71) and $3.50 per cord at Depere (total $850), with the increase attributable to cutting, hauling, and related expenses.
- The United States sued the company in trover in the federal circuit court to recover the timber’s value.
- The circuit court entered judgment for the United States for the full Depere value ($850) and certified a division of opinion on the proper measure of damages.

## Issues

1. What is the proper measure of damages in trover against an innocent purchaser of timber wrongfully cut and removed from federal land by willful trespassers?
2. May the United States recover the timber’s full market value at the place of purchase, including value added by the wrongdoers’ cutting and transportation?

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the circuit court’s judgment and remanded.
- The Court held that awarding the full Depere market value against this good-faith purchaser was improper.
- The United States could recover only the value of the timber as of the wrongful conversion, excluding the added value attributable to cutting and transportation performed by the trespassers (and reflected in the market price at Depere).

## Legal Principles

- A willful trespasser who cuts and removes timber owes the full value at the time and place of demand or suit, without deduction for labor or expense.
- An unintentional or mistaken trespasser, and an innocent vendee from such a trespasser, is liable for the value at the time of conversion minus the value added by the converter’s and vendor’s labor and expense.
- A purchaser without notice from a willful trespasser is liable for the value at the time of purchase, subject to the rule that an innocent party is not charged with the trespasser’s enhanced-value liability.
- In wrongful severance cases, damages against an innocent buyer are aimed at compensation for what the owner lost at the moment of severance, not at transferring the benefit of a wrongdoer’s improvements to the owner.

## Conclusion

The Court set a tiered damages framework for wrongfully severed timber and held that a good-faith purchaser’s liability is limited to the timber’s value when first wrongfully converted from realty to personalty, not the higher market value created by the trespassers’ cutting and hauling.


E. E. Bolles Wooden Ware Co. v. United States, 106 U.S. 432 (1882)