The price of joyriding

A valet’s ill-advised joyride in a customer’s limited-edition Mazda Miata led to the case of Parking Co. of Am. Valet, Inc. v. Fellman. Among other holdings, the Fifth Court noted:

• Publicly-available sales price data. An expert’s use of asking prices from websites like cars.com was acceptable when: “This case does not involve natural gas, real estate, or other market where the sales price of comparable property is readily determinable.”
• Relevance of later sale. “[T]he car was not in the same condition when it was sold as it was before the accident; the evidence showed it was in better condition. Between the accident and the sale, Fellman spent about $1,000 upgrading the
  car’s brakes, and he put new tires on the car shortly before he sold it.”

05-17-01277-CV (July 31, 2019) (mem. op.)