§ 61.063.Judgment on Replevied Property

The consequence of taking the property back on bond.

A judgment against a defendant who has replevied attached personal property shall be against the defendant and his sureties on the replevy bond for either the amount of the judgment plus interest and costs or an amount equal to the value of the replevied property plus interest, according to the terms of the replevy bond.

The sureties are bound by the same judgment. No separate action is required against them, which is what makes the bond an effective substitute for the goods.

That is the bargain replevy represents. The defendant recovers the use of the property; the plaintiff’s security becomes a bond enforceable in the same judgment.

Two measures are possible, and the bond decides which. The judgment amount, or the value of the property — whichever the bond’s terms provide.

The difference can be substantial. Where the property is worth less than the claim, a value-based bond caps the sureties’ exposure at what the goods were worth; a judgment-based bond does not.

So the terms of the replevy bond are worth attention before it is executed, by the defendant, the sureties and the plaintiff alike.

Interest is added in both cases, and costs in the first.

Read with the custody section, the chapter’s treatment of personalty is coherent. The officer holds until judgment; replevy substitutes a bond; and this makes the bond answerable in the judgment itself.