Goodwin v. Metts

• Decision Date: 28 November 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-2135,88-2135
• Citation: 885 F.2d 157
• Parties: James Kenneth GOODWIN; Eddie Earl Hallman, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. James R. METTS, individually and in his official capacity as Sheriff of Lexington County, South Carolina; Vernon O. Maxwell, individually and in his official capacity as a Lexington County Deputy Sheriff, Defendants-Appellants, and Ralph Bishop, individually and d/b/a Bishop Salvage Company, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 157

885 F.2d 157

James Kenneth GOODWIN; Eddie Earl Hallman, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. James R. METTS, individually and in his official capacity as Sheriff of Lexington County, South Carolina; Vernon O Maxwell, individually and in his official capacity as a Lexington County Deputy Sheriff, Defendants-Appellants and Ralph Bishop, individually and d/b/a Bishop Salvage Company Defendant.

No. 88-2135.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued April 13, 1989.

Decided Sept. 12, 1989.

Rehearing and Rehearing In Banc Denied Nov. 28, 1989.

Harold Weinberg Jacobs (David B. Summer, Jr., Nexsen, Pruet, Jacobs & Pollard, Columbia, S.C., on brief), for defendants-appellants.

Lex A. Rogerson, Jr., Lexington, S.C. (John R. Delgado, Furr & Delgado, Herbert W. Louthian, Louthian & Louthian, Columbia, S.C., Armand Derfner, Armand Derfner, P.A., Charleston, S.C., on brief), for plaintiffs-appellees.

Before RUSSELL and CHAPMAN, Circuit Judges, and BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge.

BUTZNER, Senior Circuit Judge:

After a jury trial, Vernon O. Maxwell was held liable for wrongful prosecution under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. The jury found Maxwell and James R. Metts liable for common law malicious prosecution. It awarded compensatory damages to the plaintiffs, James Kenneth Goodwin and Eddie Earl Hallman, and assessed punitive damages against Maxwell. Metts and Maxwell appeal from the district court's denial of their motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for a new trial. We set aside the verdict for punitive damages because the evidence does not justify it. We otherwise affirm the judgment of the district court.

I

Goodwin and Hallman were arrested by Lexington County, South Carolina, sheriff's deputies in connection with a break-in that occurred on the weekend of April 29, 1983, at the house of their employer, Ralph Bishop. They were charged with grand larceny. Maxwell was the investigating officer in the case.

Between arraignment and trial, two discoveries cast doubt on whether there continued to be probable cause to believe that Goodwin and Hallman actually had committed the break-in. The warrant under which Goodwin and Hallman had been arrested was issued largely because of a statement given by a "Terry Nelson," which was the principal evidence directly linking them to the break-in. Sheriff's deputies discovered, however, that "Nelson" had provided them with a false name and address, and they were unable to locate him. More importantly, about one month before Goodwin's and Hallman's trial, Michael Stafford was arrested in a neighboring jurisdiction and confessed to a series of break-ins at Bishop's house. Maxwell prepared a report on the Bishop break-ins, including the one of which Goodwin and Hallman were accused, indicating that all of the break-ins had been "cleared" by Stafford's confession. He added Stafford's name as a suspect to an incident report concerning the break-in for which Goodwin and Hallman were about to stand trial. Maxwell did not, however, inform anyone in the sheriff's department or county solicitor's office that he had connected Stafford with the Bishop break-in.

Even without knowing of Stafford's confession, the county solicitor was reluctant to permit the case against Goodwin and Hallman to proceed to trial, due to its perceived weakness. He declined to permit any member of his office to prosecute the case. Instead, a lawyer who had represented Bishop in civil matters prosecuted the case. He did so after conferring with Maxwell, who did not mention that Stafford had confessed to the break-in for which Goodwin and Hallman were charged. Maxwell did not disclose that he had cleared the records of the Goodwin-Hallman case by attributing the break-in to Stafford only two weeks earlier. After a jury trial in state court, Goodwin and Hallman were acquitted.

Goodwin and Hallman then brought this action, asserting various state and federal claims against Maxwell; John T. Vaughn, Maxwell's partner; Metts, the Lexington County sheriff; and Bishop. The district court directed a verdict in favor of Vaughn and submitted to the jury four claims against Maxwell, Metts, and Bishop.

The claims submitted to the jury alleged that the defendants were liable to Goodwin and Hallman for wrongful arrest and wrongful prosecution in violation of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 and for the pendent state law torts of malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury found in favor of Bishop on all claims and in favor of Maxwell and Metts on the wrongful arrest and emotional distress claims. It held Maxwell and Metts liable for malicious prosecution and held Maxwell liable for wrongful prosecution under section 1983. ¹ It awarded $60,000 compensatory damages to Goodwin, $90,000 compensatory damages to Hallman, and imposed $175,000 punitive damages against Maxwell.

II

Maxwell and Metts contend that they are entitled to judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the malicious prosecution claim and that Maxwell is entitled to judgment on the section 1983 claim. They argue that Maxwell's knowledge of Stafford's confession and the false identity and unavailability of the witness "Nelson" did not negate probable cause to believe that Goodwin and Hallman committed the Bishop break-in. Maxwell maintains that Stafford's confession did not exculpate Goodwin and Hallman. He characterizes the problem with "Nelson's" statement as one merely of witness unavailability, for which he cannot be held responsible. Maxwell asserts that the details of Stafford's confession were so dissimilar to the break-in of which Goodwin and Hallman were accused that he still had probable cause to believe in their guilt even after he heard of Stafford's statement, especially in view of his conclusion that the first Bishop break-in was an "inside job."

In reviewing the denial of a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, we assess "the evidence and all reasonable inferences from it ... in the light most favorable to the non-moving party ... and the credibility of all evidence favoring the non-moving party is assumed." Crinkley v. Holiday Inns, Inc., 844 F.2d 156, 160 (4th Cir.1988). If there is "evidence of such quality and weight that reasonable and fair-minded men in the exercise of impartial judgment could reasonably return a verdict for the nonmoving party," the jury verdict should be sustained. Wyatt v. Interstate & Ocean Transp. Co., 623 F.2d 888, 891 (4th Cir.1980).

There was substantial testimony that, before the trial of Goodwin and Hallman, Maxwell knew that the putative witness "Nelson" had provided a false name and address and could not be located. Moreover, it was reasonable for the jury to find that, based upon Stafford's confession, Maxwell knew or should have known, by the time of the criminal trial, that Goodwin and Hallman did not commit the break-in. Maxwell's insistence that Stafford's confession did not exculpate Goodwin and Hallman was rejected by the jury based upon substantial evidence. A police officer who initially investigated the crime reported that the criminal had forcibly entered Bishop's house. This was contrary to Maxwell's theory of an inside job but consistent with Stafford's confession. Stafford broke into the house three or four times, but only in the first break-in did he steal a number of checks which he later burned. He was corroborated by the fact that the checks never were presented for payment. At no other time were checks stolen from Bishop's house. The first break-in when the checks were stolen, to which Stafford confessed, is the same crime Maxwell attributed to Goodwin and Hallman. Significantly, Maxwell's assertion is also belied by the fact that he cleared the record of the break-in, indicating Stafford's culpability, after learning of the confession.

Maxwell essentially seeks to retry on appeal the jury's factual determinations. But this court "is not free to ... substitute its judgment of the facts for that of the jury." Aloe Coal Co. v. Clark Equip. Co., 816 F.2d 110, 113 (3d Cir.1987). We will disturb the jury's verdict " 'only if, as a matter of law, the record is critically deficient of that minimum quantity of evidence from which a jury might reasonably afford relief.' " 816 F.2d at 113. Viewed in the light most favorable to Goodwin and Hallman, the evidence supports the jury's finding that Maxwell lacked probable cause to believe they were guilty after he learned of "Nelson's" false statements and the Stafford confession.

III

Maxwell and Metts contend they are entitled to judgment notwithstanding the verdict, even if there was no probable cause to prosecute Goodwin and Hallman. Maxwell lacked the power to discontinue the prosecution, they argue, and thus cannot be held liable for its continuation. As an investigating officer, Maxwell maintains, his duty extended only to an initial determination of probable cause and did not include any obligation to disclose exculpatory information acquired after the initiation of criminal proceedings.

We cannot accept this argument. Under South Carolina law, liability for malicious prosecution arises from wrongful "institution or continuation of original judicial proceedings." Eaves, 277 S.C. at 477, 289 S.E.2d at 415 (emphasis added). Liability extends to anyone who "instituted a criminal action against plaintiff, or had caused one to be maintained or had voluntarily aided or assisted in its prosecution." Gibson v. Brown, 245 S.C. 547, 550, 141 S.E.2d 653, 654-55 (1965).

By his role in the investigation, Maxwell voluntarily assisted in the actionable continuation of the prosecution of Goodwin and Hallman. The evidence shows that the county solicitor was extremely reluctant to allow the case to go to trial, that Bishop's private lawyer decided to prosecute only after conferring with members of the sheriff's department, including Maxwell, and that Maxwell did not disclose the exculpatory information to the...