When, in an action to recover the possession of personal property, the person making any affidavit did not truly state the value of the property and the officer taking the property or the sureties on any bond or undertaking are sued for taking the same, the officer or sureties may, in their answer, set up the true value of the property and that the person in whose behalf said affidavit was made was entitled to the possession of the same when said affidavit was made or that the value in the affidavit stated was inserted by mistake, whereupon the court must disregard the value as stated in the affidavit.
§ 25-4-303, MCA