Burton v. Drennan

• Decision Date: 16 March 1933
• Docket Number: 30886
• Citation: Burton v. Drennan, 58 S.W.2d 740, 332 Mo. 512 (Mo. 1933)
• Parties: William Burton, Appellant, v. Arlie Drennan
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

58 S.W.2d 740

332 Mo. 512

William Burton, Appellant, v. Arlie Drennan

No. 30886

Supreme Court of Missouri

March 16, 1933

Appeal from Bates Circuit Court; Hon. W. L. P. Burney Judge.

Reversed and remanded.

DeArmond & Maxey and Howell H. Heck for appellant.

(1) This petition clearly shows the cause to be one of false arrest and imprisonment. McCaskey v. Garrett, 91 Mo.App. 354. (2) False imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty against his will. Hanser v Bieber, 271 Mo. 335. (3) If separate causes of action are united in a petition, demurrer does not lie, but the proper procedure is to file a motion to elect. Merriam v Star-Chronicle Pub. Co., 29 S.W.2d 203. (4) A plaintiff, who has been rightfully arrested, but wrongfully fined, is entitled to maintain an action of false imprisonment. Clark v. Tilton, 68 A. 335. (5) If it should be construed that this petition sounds an action for malicious prosecution then the petition is good. Randol v. Kline's, Inc., 18 S.W.2d 500, 49 S.W.2d 112. (6) The refusal, by an officer, to accept, or allow person confined to procure bail renders officer liable for false imprisonment. 25 C. J. sec. 65, p. 495. (7) False imprisonment is based upon the deprivation of one's liberty without legal process, while malicious prosecution is for a prosecution founded upon legal process but maintained maliciously and without probable cause. May join both in same petition but can't go to the jury on both. Rosendale v. Market Square D. G. Co., 213 S.W. 169; McCaskey v. Garrett, 91 Mo.App. 354.

Silvers & Sheppard for respondent.

(1) There were no substantive facts pleaded to show that the arrest and confinement in jail were illegal; the allegations in the petition "without warrant or authority of law" are mere conclusions of the pleader, hence the demurrer was properly sustained. 49 C. J. sec. 18; Rudd v. Rudd, 13 S.W.2d 1082; Natl. Hollow Brake Beam Co. v. Bakewell and Cornwall, 224 Mo. 203. (2) The sheriff has custody of all prisoners in jail. Sec. 8526, R. S. 1929.

OPINION

Atwood, J.

William Burton sued W. W. Sunderwirth and Arlie Drennan for false imprisonment. Defendants filed separate demurrers to plaintiff's second amended petition. These demurrers were sustained and plaintiff, declining to plead further, has appealed from the judgment entered thereon. After the appeal was lodged here appellant and respondent Sunderwirth stipulated that the cause be dismissed as to the said Sunderwirth only, and dismissal was entered accordingly.

The grounds of defendant Drennan's demurrer were as follows:

"1. That several causes of action have been improperly united.

"2. That the petition does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action."

The fundamental object of a demurrer is to determine whether or not the pleading states a cause of action or defense. [21 R. C. L. p. 504, sec. 69, n. 14.] Therefore, first testing the petition by the second stated ground, we find that it alleged, among other things, that defendants "on said 2nd day of August, 1929, while trespassers on his property and without any warrant or authority of law for so doing by force compelled this plaintiff to go with them to the Bates County jail, to which building defendant, Arlie Drennan, had or assumed the right of ingress or egress, and did then and there imprison and restrain this plaintiff of his liberty, forcibly placing him inside of said jail and locking the doors thereof so that this plaintiff could not secure his liberty and did there detain him and restrain him of his liberty, without any warrant or authority of law for so doing, for the space of about 16 hours;" that while defendants kept plaintiff so confined and deprived of his liberty they advised him "that he was charged with a violation of the laws of this State and that under a new law he was liable to imprisonment in the State penitentiary for a period of from two to eight years and to a fine of about $ 600, and that if he did not fix it up that they would take him before the judge of the circuit court and that said judge would sentence him from two to eight years in the penitentiary and would in addition thereto fine him about $ 600;" that said statements and averments coming from and made by "the prosecuting attorney, W. W. Sunderwirth, and a deputy sheriff, Arlie Drennan, were believed and relied on by this plaintiff and inspired him with fear of the loss of his liberty and the disgrace of a term in the penitentiary and the fear of being deprived of his property and he, this plaintiff, requested permission to see and confer with an attorney in order to ascertain his rights but that these defendants denied that right and would not permit him to see or confer with an attorney, and plaintiff says that he requested these defendants to grant him permission to consult a lawyer in order that he might make arrangements to give a bond for an appearance at any time required and this request was also, by these defendants, refused and he was denied the right to see said attorney for such purpose." Plaintiff's petition further alleged that defendants thereafter took him before a justice of the peace where induced by fear, duress and restraint he "fixed up" the matter by executing and delivering his check for $ 217 to respondent who cashed the same, although plaintiff was not guilty of the violation of any law of this State. Plaintiff further alleged that all of said acts were "unlawful, illegal and wilfully and maliciously done," and prayed judgment for both actual and punitive damages in the sum of $ 5000 each.

Respondent states only two points in support of the trial court's action in sustaining his demurrer. The first is that no substantive facts were pleaded to show that the arrest and confinement in jail were illegal, respondent contending that the clause in the petition "without any warrant or authority of law" merely stated a conclusion of the pleader.

False imprisonment is defined in 11 R. C. L. p. 791, sec. 2, as "the direct restraint by one person of the physical liberty of another without adequate legal justification." [See also Hanser v. Bieber, 271 Mo. 326, 335, 197 S.W. 68.] The essence of the tort consists in depriving the plaintiff of his liberty without legal justification. [McCaskey v. Garrett, 91 Mo.App. 354, 359.] "The plaintiff's grievance is the use against him of force, actual or threatened. Consequently, in the common law procedure, the action must be brought in trespass." [11 R. C. L. p. 792.] The petition in an action for false imprisonment must, in accordance with common law rules or the requirements of the codes and practice acts, contain an allegation of the facts constituting the essential elements of the cause of...