Chatman v. Pizitz, Inc.
Decision Date | 25 February 1983 |
Citation | 429 So.2d 969 |
Parties | Delores CHATMAN, Robert Chatman, Robert Chatman, as next friend for Clarence Chatman, a minor v. PIZITZ, INC., an Alabama Corporation, et al. 81-400. |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
David A. Sullivan, Birmingham, for appellants.
Robert L. Williams of Norman, Fitzpatrick & Wood, Birmingham, for appellees.
This is an appeal from a summary judgment. We reverse.
On August 16, 1980, Delores Chatman went shopping in a Pizitz store in Fairfield, Alabama. Her four-year-old child, Clarence, accompanied her. After completing her shopping, Ms. Chatman wrote a check to pay for the purchases. Subsequently, Mike Matthews, an employee of Pizitz, told her to come to the manager's office because she was under arrest for issuing a worthless check to Pizitz on December 22, 1978, for $43.45. A warrant for her arrest was issued on July 16, 1979, for violation of § 13A-9-13, Code 1975.
Ms. Chatman was detained in the Pizitz store for three hours. During this time, her child was allegedly in a frightened and terrified emotional state. Eventually, the police came and transported her to the Birmingham jail.
On September 10, 1980, Ms. Chatman appeared in the Municipal Court of Birmingham, without counsel, and entered a plea of guilty for violating § 13A-9-13. The record is silent as to whether she was informed of her right to counsel, and whether the trial judge complied with Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969), before accepting the guilty plea.
After Ms. Chatman entered the guilty plea, the charge was nol-prossed; she was assessed, and she paid, the court costs of $17.00, and she made restitution to Pizitz for the allegedly worthless check in the amount of $43.45.
On October 31, 1980, Ms. Chatman filed a suit for damages in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County against Pizitz for malicious prosecution and abuse of process; her husband Robert sued for loss of consortium, and solace of his wife, and he, as next friend of the child, sued for mental pain and anguish because he was separated from his mother following her arrest. Pizitz's motion to dismiss the cause of action for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted was denied. Following this order, Pizitz answered by pleading the general issue of not guilty and denial. On October 18, 1981, Pizitz's motion for summary judgment was granted by the trial court, and a final judgment pursuant to Rule 54(b), ARCP, was entered in favor of Pizitz. 1 The Chatmans appeal.
The principal issues presented for review are: (1) Whether a guilty plea followed by a nolle prosequi precludes Chatman from maintaining an action for malicious prosecution, and (2) under the same facts, is she precluded from maintaining an action for abuse of process?
Pizitz argues that an essential element of malicious prosecution is missing, i.e., there was no determination of a judicial proceeding favorably to the plaintiff, by relying on a comment to Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 660 (1977), and concluding that the nolle prosequi was a compromise. Comment C of that Restatement provides:
In this case, Pizitz's conclusion, drawn from Comment C, begs the question. Here, while the evidence may support a "compromise," this is an issue of fact yet to be determined, not a conclusion to be drawn as a matter of law. To be sure, Ms. Chatman actually entered a guilty plea, which plea if valid, and entered in response to a charge not subsequently dismissed, would have admitted her guilt.
Judge Simpson of the Court of Appeals of Alabama wrote to the judicial practice of an accused's entering a guilty plea--followed by a nolle prosequi--and payment of court costs by the defendant in Melton v. State, 30 Ala.App. 136, 1 So.2d 920 (1941):
Following Melton, Judge Bricken stated in Lynn v. State, 31 Ala.App. 216, 14 So.2d 259 (1943), that the nolle prosequi of a criminal charge after a person has entered a plea thereto is a judicial determination in favor of the defendant, and against his conviction. Finally, in 54 C.J.S. Malicious Prosecution, § 59 (1948), this is stated:
Cf. Roughton v. Jackson, 37 Ala.App. 17, 64 So.2d 112 (1952), cert. denied, 258 Ala. 579, 64 So.2d 115 (1953).
We agree with Melton and Lynn and hold that a nolle prosequi of the charge is a judicial determination which will support the plaintiff's prima facie showing of the "favorable disposition" element of a malicious prosecution claim.
In the context of a malicious prosecution suit, however, plaintiff's prima facie case may be overcome by a showing that the dismissal of the criminal charge was a component element of a settlement or compromise agreement between the parties. Where defendant in a malicious prosecution suit fails to come forward with evidence of compromise, plaintiff's proof of nolle prosequi or order of dismissal of the criminal charge meets the "favorable disposition" requisite of a malicious prosecution claim as a matter of law. On the other hand, where defendant's proof of compromise is unchallenged by plaintiff, notwithstanding plaintiff's proof of dismissal of the criminal charge, defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. To paraphrase the Restatement: A malicious prosecution plaintiff, having bought his peace, may not thereafter assert that the criminal proceedings were terminated in his favor.
It follows, then, that where the parties join issue by way of pleadings and proof with respect to the defense of compromise, that issue is to be resolved by the jury like any other triable issue of fact.
Next, Pizitz raises the issue of probable cause. The answer is that Chatman can make out a prima facie case of a lack of probable cause by showing that the criminal proceedings instituted against her by Pizitz were nol prossed (Caldwell v. Standard Oil Co., 220 Ala. 227, 124 So. 512 (1929)), subject to the same standard of proof necessary to overcome that presumption as discussed above.
We believe, and so hold, that justice requires this case...
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