Statutory & common-law conversion; Necessary joinder; MCR 2.205(A); Preservation; Raise-or-waive rule; Great weight of the evidence; Jury verdict form; Waiver; U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

The court held that defendant was not entitled to relief on his claim that the SBA was a necessary party or on his challenges to the jury’s conversion verdict. Defendant and plaintiff-Kattan were former business partners in plaintiff-A1 Signs. After defendant divested his interest in the company, his name remained on its bank account. He later withdrew funds from the account, which contained federal loan proceeds, and plaintiffs sued. The jury found for A1 Signs on statutory and common-law conversion and awarded damages. On appeal, defendant argued that the SBA was a necessary party under MCR 2.205(A) because it held a security interest in proceeds recovered from commercial tort claims. The court declined to consider the argument because he raised that specific joinder theory for the first time on appeal. It emphasized that “a party ‘may not remain silent in the trial court and then hope to obtain appellate relief on an issue that [he or she] did not call to the trial court’s attention.’” Although defendant had previously asserted that the SBA possessed a security interest and asked the trial court to notify it of the litigation, he did not argue necessary joinder. An objection on one ground “‘is insufficient to preserve appellate attack on different grounds,’” and no exceptional circumstances warranted review. The court similarly declined to review defendant’s argument that his status as a joint account holder defeated the conversion claims because he did not preserve a great-weight challenge by moving for a new trial. Finally, to the extent he challenged an award of conversion damages to Kattan individually, defendant expressly agreed to the verdict form and therefore waived the claim. In any event, “the jury found that Kattan did not sustain damages as a result of defendant’s conversion of the funds” and awarded the conversion damages only to A1 Signs. Affirmed.