Dunnington v. Loeser
Citation | 1915 OK 407,149 P. 1161,48 Okla. 636 |
Decision Date | 01 June 1915 |
Docket Number | Case Number: 4290 |
Parties | DUNNINGTON v. LOESER. |
Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
¶0 1. MALICIOUS PROSECUTION--Probable Cause-- Question for Court--Instructions. In an action for malicious prosecution, the question of what amounts to probable cause is one of law for the court. It is therefore the duty of the court, when evidence has been given to prove or disprove probable cause, to submit to the jury its credibility, with the instruction that certain facts amount to probable cause, or they do not, as the case may be.
2. SAME. In such cause, to leave to the jury the question of probable cause is error.
3. MALICIOUS PROSECUTION--Probable Cause--Instruction. Where, in an action for malicious prosecution, the question of whether or not the defendant believed the facts relied upon to prove probable cause arises, that only raises an additional question for the jury to determine, but the court should still instruct the jury as to what facts do or do not amount to probable cause, and, in addition, instruct them that, even though the facts proved do constitute probable cause, if they further find that the defendant did not believe them to be true at the time he instituted the prosecution, he would not be protected by the fact that they did exist.
4. APPEAL AND ERROR--Trial--Prejudicial Error--Instructions-- Request. If the court correctly instructs the jury as to the law, if either party wants fuller instructions upon the law given by the court, they should request the instructions they desire given. But, if the court undertakes to instruct the jury as to the law, and does so incorrectly, that is prejudicial error.
5. MALICIOUS PROSECUTION--Right of Action. To adopt a lax rule, favorable to actions for malicious prosecution, is to open the door in such actions, and to close the door to prosecutions, to turn society over to the lawless, and to create a dread on the part of any one who dares to prosecute.
Parker & Simons, A. J. Titus, and A. R. Carpenter, for plaintiff in error.
C. H. Mauntel and A. C. Beeman, for defendant in error.
¶1 The question presented by the exceptions to the charge of the court above set out raises the question as to whether or not probable cause is a question for the jury or a question of law. Michael v. Matson, 81 Kan. 360, 105 P. 537, is a strong authority in the case at bar. The instruction objected to in that case was as follows:
¶2 In reversing the case on account of this instruction the court say:
¶3 In Vickers v. Logan, 44 N.C. 393, it is held:
¶4 In Stone v. Crocker, 41 Mass. 81, it is held:
"In an action for malicious prosecution, what facts and circumstances amount to probable cause is a question of law; whether they exist in the particular case is a question of fact."
¶5 In Stewart v. Sonneborn, 98 U.S. 187, 25 L. Ed. 116, it is held:
¶6 In Lacey v. Porter, 103 Cal. 597, 37 P. 635, it is held:
¶7 These authorities are directly in point that the instructions to the jury above set out, and which were duly excepted to, were erroneous. We therefore recommend that the judgment be reversed, and this cause remanded for a new trial.
ON PETITION FOR REHEARING.
¶0 This case comes up on petition for rehearing. The opinion which we are called upon to examine in review reversed the lower court, because the instructions of that court left to the jury the question of what facts would or would not constitute probable cause, instead of instructing the jury that, if they found certain facts proved, such facts would show a want of probable cause, and, if they found certain other facts proved, such facts would constitute probable cause. In other words, the opinion holds, as stated in the syllabus, that:
¶1 The petition for rehearing seems to admit that the opinion correctly states the general rule, but insists that the court has overlooked certain exceptions to this general rule, which we are called upon to examine and review, and which we shall now proceed to do. It is first claimed that:
"The court overlooked the exception noted by the Supreme Court of Kansas in Michael v. Matson, 81 Kan. 360, 105 P. 537, wherein the court held that there might be exceptions to the rule."
¶2 If there is an approval of any exception to the rule in that case, either express or implied, we have failed to find it. The trial court seems to have attempted to make an exception by telling the jury that, under certain conditions, they should find for the defendant, "unless they should further find that the defendant himself, after consulting with an attorney, believed there was no probable cause for the prosecution." But the Supreme Court, instead of approving this, says this addition "necessarily introduced a new, irrelevant, and confusing element into the problem, defendant's understanding as to what constitutes probable cause in law," and speaks in terms of condemnation rather than approval of this effort on the part of the trial court to inject that exception into the case. That court, in discussing the subject as to whether or not the question of what constitutes probable cause is one of unmixed law, says:
"There is some conflict on the subject, but the great preponderance of authority favors the view that the question of what facts are sufficient to constitute probable cause is one of unmixed law."
¶3 And again, in speaking of the fact that the trial court in that case gave an instruction defining in the abstract what constitutes probable cause, says:
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