The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 12: Court Procedure

Chapter 183: Replevin

• Subchapter 001: Replevin by Defendant of Attached Goods

• §§ 5301-5305. Repealed. 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 237, eff. March 29, 1972.

• Subchapter 002: Replevin for Beasts Distrained

• § 5321. When maintainable

  If beasts are distrained or impounded to recover a penalty or forfeiture alleged to have been incurred by their going at large or to obtain satisfaction for damages alleged to have been done by them, the owner thereof may maintain an action of replevin therefor.

• § 5322. Judgment for defendant

  When it appears upon the nonsuit of the plaintiff, or upon trial, that the beasts were lawfully taken or distrained, the defendant shall have judgment for such sum as is due from the plaintiff for the penalty or forfeiture or for the damages for which the beasts were impounded, with the legal fees and charges incurred by the distress, and the costs of the action of replevin.

• § 5323. Judgment for plaintiff

  When it appears upon the default of the defendant or upon trial that the beasts were taken or distrained without justifiable cause, the plaintiff shall have judgment for his or her damages caused thereby, and his or her costs.

• Subchapter 003: Other Replevin of Goods

• § 5331. For what and where maintainable

  A person may maintain an action of replevin for goods in the county in which the goods are detained in any of the following circumstances:

  (1) When goods are unlawfully taken or unlawfully detained from the owner or person entitled to the possession thereof.

  (2) When goods or chattels which are attached on mesne process or taken in execution are claimed by a person other than the defendant in the action or debtor in the execution.

  (3) When goods are attached or taken in execution and are claimed by the defendant in the action or debtor in the execution as exempt from attachment and levy.

• § 5332. Damages when replevin delays service of execution

  If the goods, when replevied, were taken in execution or attached, and judgment is afterwards rendered for the attaching creditor, and if, in either case, the service of the execution is delayed by means of the replevin, the damages assessed for the defendant, upon judgment for a return, shall not be less than 12 percent annually, on the value of the goods, for such time as the service of the execution is so delayed.

• § 5333. Service not delayed as to balance of execution; alias execution

  When the goods or chattels were taken in execution, the service thereof shall not be delayed as to any balance due thereon, after deducting the value of such goods or chattels, but the officer may execute the same, and the creditor may have an alias execution for such balance as if payment had been made thereon to the value of such goods or chattels. If judgment is rendered in favor of the plaintiff in replevin, the creditor may have an alias execution as if such goods or chattels had not been taken in execution.

• § 5334. Sale of goods returned

  When judgment is rendered in favor of the defendant in the action of replevin, and the goods or chattels are returned, the same may be sold and the proceeds applied by the officer who took them in execution as if they had not been replevied.

• § 5335. Sums recovered by officer, how applied

  Sums recovered in an action of replevin by an officer for or on account of goods attached or taken in execution by him or her, or recovered in an action on the bond given upon the replevin of such goods, shall be applied so far as they will go:

  (1) to pay the fees and charges of the officer and reasonable expenses of the action of replevin, and the action on the bond, so far as they are not reimbursed by the costs recovered;

  (2) to pay to the creditor, at whose action the goods were attached or taken in execution, the sum, if any, recovered in that action, or so much thereof as remains unpaid, with 12 percent interest for such time as the money has been withheld from the creditor, or the service of his or her execution delayed by reason of the replevin;

  (3) if the attaching creditor does not recover judgment in his or her action, or if a balance remains of the monies so recovered by the officer, after so paying what is due to the creditor, such balance, or the whole amount, shall be disposed of as any surplus would be if the same goods had been sold on execution.

• § 5336. Attachment lien preserved

  When the goods which are replevied had been attached, they shall, in case of a judgment for return, be held liable to the attachment and to levy of execution in the same manner as though replevin thereof had not been made. When final judgment is rendered before the return of the goods or if the goods, when replevied, were seized and held on execution, they shall be held subject to the same attachment or seizure for 30 days after the return, in order that the execution may be served thereon or the service completed, as it might have been if the goods had not been replevied.

• § 5337. Writ of reprisal

  When the officer to whom the writ of return is committed cannot find the goods replevied, so as to deliver them to the defendant, he or she shall make return of that fact upon such writ, and the defendant shall thereupon be entitled to a writ of reprisal, to be awarded and issued upon his or her motion by the court in which the judgment was rendered, to take the goods and chattels of the plaintiff, to be held and disposed of as on a writ of execution.

• § 5338. When judgment for plaintiff is given

  When it appears upon the default of the defendant, or upon trial in the action of replevin, that the goods were unlawfully taken or attached or unlawfully detained by the defendant, the plaintiff shall have judgment for his or her damages caused thereby, and his or her costs.

• Subchapter 004: Procedure in Replevin of Beasts, Goods, and Chattels

• § 5371. Writs; court to which returnable

  Writ of replevin in actions under the provisions of sections 5321 and 5331 of this title shall issue out of the court to which returnable. If the value of the property to be replevied is $5,000.00 or less, the writ may be returnable to any court; if the value of the property exceeds $5,000.00, the writ shall be returnable to a Superior Court. (Amended 1959, No. 142, § 5, eff. Feb. 1, 1960; 1965, No. 194, § 7, eff. July 1, 1965, operative Feb. 1, 1967; 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 165, eff. March 29, 1972; 1973, No. 249 (Adj. Sess.), § 39, eff. April 9, 1974.)

• § 5372. Repealed. 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 237, eff. March 29, 1972.

• § 5373. Bond

  The writ in an action of replevin commenced under the provisions of section 5321 or 5331 of this title shall not be issued until the plaintiff or someone in his or her behalf executes and delivers to the officer a bond to the defendant, with sufficient surety to be approved by the court, in a penalty double the value of the property to be replevied, with condition to prosecute the action to final judgment and pay such damages and costs as the defendant recovers against him or her, and also to return the property if that is the final judgment. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 166, eff. March 29, 1972.)

• §§ 5374, 5375. Repealed. 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 237, eff. March 29, 1972.

• Subchapter 005: Miscellaneous Provisions

• § 5401. Orders and judgment of court

  Upon the abatement, dismissal, nonsuit, default, or trial of an action of replevin, the court shall make such order for the return or restoration of the goods as is just, and may take such inquest of damages in the premises as the rights of the parties require, and render judgment thereon accordingly. When such replevin terminates otherwise than upon the merits, such court may make such special order as to the return or restoration of the goods or as to damages, and may require such security in the premises, from either party, as is just.

• § 5402. Sums received by creditor, how applied

  Sums received by the creditor from the sale of goods attached or taken in execution and afterward returned and sums received for the value of such goods not returned and sums recovered from the officer for the insufficiency of the sureties in the bond, shall be applied toward the discharge of the judgment recovered by the creditor. Sums received as interest or damages for the delay of his or her execution shall be retained to his or her own use, and shall not go in discharge of the judgment further than to discharge the interest on the same for the time for which interest was received.

• § 5403. Remedy on bond not affected

  The foregoing provisions shall not preclude the defendant from resorting to his or her remedy on the replevin bond or to his or her remedy against the officer for the insufficiency of the sureties in the bond, to recover the value of the goods, with the loss or damage caused by the replevin or nondelivery thereof, notwithstanding he or she has endeavored to recover the same by the writs of return and reprisal.

• § 5404. Action against surety limited

  An action shall not be maintained against a surety in a replevin bond unless the writ is served on the surety within one year after final judgment in the action of replevin. (Amended 1971, No. 185 (Adj. Sess.), § 167, eff. March 29, 1972.)

• § 5405. Direction and service of writ

  A writ of replevin shall not be directed to or served by a person other than an officer authorized by law to serve the same.