## Facts

- Constance Gavcus’s husband died in March 1981.
- After the funeral, Lillian Potts (the decedent’s daughter by a prior marriage) and her family stayed briefly at Gavcus’s home.
- After leaving, the Potts returned to the home while Gavcus was absent and removed silver coins valued at more than $150,000.
- Law enforcement investigated; the coins were later returned to the sheriff’s office.
- Gavcus retained counsel and initiated a Wisconsin statutory proceeding for return of seized property; that matter was merged with a probate proceeding in which Potts disputed Gavcus’s claimed individual ownership.
- A Wisconsin circuit court ruled the coins belonged to Gavcus individually and ordered their return.
- Gavcus then sued the Potts family in federal court for trespass and unlawful removal of the coins, seeking damages including prior attorney’s fees, costs for new locks and an alarm installed afterward, and punitive damages.

## Issues

1. Whether Wisconsin law permits recovery, as tort damages, of attorney’s fees incurred in prior separate proceedings to recover or establish ownership of property wrongfully removed.
2. Whether the cost of installing new locks and a burglar alarm after the incident is recoverable consequential damages for trespass/unlawful removal where no physical injury to real property was claimed.
3. Whether punitive damages may stand when the plaintiff’s legally recoverable damages are only nominal.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed the judgment awarding Gavcus nominal damages of $1.
- The court held that the attorney’s fees from the prior return-of-property/probate litigation were not recoverable as compensatory damages in this tort action under Wisconsin law.
- The court held that the post-incident expenses for new locks and an alarm were not recoverable damages on the record presented.
- Because the claimed compensatory items were legally unavailable, the court upheld setting aside the punitive damages award.

## Legal Principles

- Under Wisconsin’s American-rule approach, attorney’s fees are generally not recoverable as damages absent a recognized exception (such as statute or contract); fees incurred in earlier, separate litigation to resolve an ownership dispute are not shifted as tort damages merely because a defendant’s conduct preceded that litigation.
- Consequential damages must be legally attributable to the tort; preventive security measures taken after a trespass or temporary property removal, without physical damage to the premises, are not automatically recoverable.
- Under Wisconsin law, punitive damages typically require an award of compensatory damages beyond nominal damages and must rest on conduct meeting the state’s standards for punitive liability.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed limiting recovery to nominal damages because Wisconsin law did not allow prior attorney’s fees or post-incident security costs as compensatory damages on these facts, and punitive damages could not be sustained without legally cognizable compensatory damages beyond nominal.


Gavcus v. Potts, 808 F.2d 596 (7th Cir. 1986)