Burgin v. Sullivan

• Decision Date: 06 June 1907
• Citation: 44 So. 202,151 Ala. 416
• Parties: BURGIN v. SULLIVAN ET AL.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

44 So. 202

151 Ala. 416

BURGIN v. SULLIVAN ET AL.

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 6, 1907

Appeal from City Court of Bessemer; William Jackson, Judge.

Action by Claude Burgin, by his next friend, against J. J. Sullivan and others. From a judgment for defendants, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

The first count was for malicious and false imprisonment, as was the second and third. The fourth, fifth, and sixth were for malicious prosecution. Demurrers were interposed and overruled. The plaintiff jointly interposed the pleas of general issue and not guilty. Sullivan, by way of special plea, set up that all the connection he had with the arrest and imprisonment of defendant was that he was presiding as mayor and was mayor of the city of Bessemer, and as such mayor the defendant was brought before him, charged with violating a certain city ordinance, which was set out in the plea; that the defendant interposed the plea of guilty to the charge, and after hearing the evidence relating thereto the defendant imposed a fine of $5 and $2.50 costs upon plaintiff; and that any detention that plaintiff received, or was caused by this defendant in any manner, was caused as a judicial officer, as mayor of the city of Bessemer, with full jurisdiction of the person of the plaintiff and of the cause and that he acted in a judicial capacity and in none other. The fourth plea, another special plea, set up the ordinance of the city of Bessemer, the jurisdiction of the mayor's court of Bessemer of the person of the defendant and of the cause, the election and the qualification of the defendant Sullivan as mayor, his authority as such, and the facts showing that in the trial of said cause he was performing the functions of his office and presiding over the mayor's court, and that as such mayor and in such court he fined the plaintiff as set out in the other plea, and upon the defendant's plea of guilty and after hearing the evidence the defendant as mayor entered a judgment assessing a fine of $5 against the plaintiff, together with the cost of prosecution, amounting to $2.50, and that the detention of the plaintiff, if there was a detention, resulted from said judgment and the judicial acts of the defendant. George W Jones filed a special plea, setting up that he was chief of police of the city of Bessemer, and was regularly elected and qualified; that Sullivan was mayor; that the plaintiff was arraigned before Sullivan as mayor on a charge of assault and battery, convicted, and a fine and the cost of the prosecution imposed upon him. The judgment is set out in full, and it is alleged that the holding of plaintiff by said Jones was under and by virtue of his office as chief of police, in pursuance to the orders and decree of the mayor's court of Bessemer, and that he detained plaintiff only in his official capacity and...