Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Federal Detective Agency, Inc., s. 62-737

• Decision Date: 29 October 1963
• Docket Number: 62-738,Nos. 62-737,s. 62-737
• Citation: 157 So.2d 148
• Parties: The GREAT ATLANTIC & PACIFIC TEA COMPANY, Inc., a Maryland corporation, Appellant v. The FEDERAL DETECTIVE AGENCY, INC., a Georgia corporation, and W. E. Sharp, Appellees. The GREAT ATLANTIC & PACIFIC TEA COMPANY, Inc., a Maryland corporation, Appellant, v. Dewey VARNER, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 148

157 So.2d 148

The GREAT ATLANTIC & PACIFIC TEA COMPANY, Inc., a Maryland corporation, Appellant v. The FEDERAL DETECTIVE AGENCY, INC., a Georgia corporation, and W. E. Sharp, Appellees.

The GREAT ATLANTIC & PACIFIC TEA COMPANY, Inc., a Maryland corporation, Appellant, v. Dewey VARNER, Appellee.

Nos. 62-737, 62-738.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

Oct. 29, 1963.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 21, 1963.

Dean, Adams & Fischer, Miami, for appellant.

Dixon, DeJarnette, Bradford, Williams, McKay & Kimbrell, Miami, for Federal Detective Agency, Inc., and W. E. Sharp.

Nichols, Gaither, Beckham, Colson & Spence and Alan R. Schwartz, Miami, for Dewey Varner.

Before BARKDULL, C. J., and CARROLL and TILLMAN PEARSON, JJ.

BARKDULL, Chief, Judge.

The cases under review herein arose out of a malicious prosecution action based on the following facts. In late November, 1960, someone whose identity is unknown, cashed a check in the amount of $94.51 at the A & P Supermarket No. 200, in Dade County, Florida. No one at the store was able to identify the person cashing the check. After the check had been dishonored, officials of the store turned the check over to one W. E. Sharp of The Federal Detective Agency, Inc., to recover the proceeds of the check for the company. When the check was turned over to Sharp, A & P instructed him that they were not interested in legal action, but they left the manner of collection of the check entirely up to Sharp. Thereafter, Sharp (with no identification of the alleged wrongdoer and only conjectural evidence the link Dewey Varner with the bad check) swore out an affidavit on behalf of A & P, charging Dewey Varner with passing the check in question. On the strength of that affidavit, Varner was arrested, incarcerated and later released on bond. When he was released, Varner went to the A & P store in question and notified them of the charges brought against him and requested they be dropped. However, at no time did any official of A & P notify Sharp to drop the charges or attempt in any way to secure their dismissal. In fact, three of A & P's employees attended the hearing on the charges in an attempt to recover money for the check. The bad check charge was ultimately dismissed, and Varner brought an action for malicious prosecution against A & P, Sharp, and The Federal Detective Agency, Inc., seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.

The question of initial liability for the malicious prosecution was submitted to a jury, which found all three defendants liable in compensatory damages in the sum of $2,000.00, and assessed punitive damages against the defendant, A & P, in the sum of $2,500.00, against the defendant, Sharp, in the sum of $1.00, and against the defendant, The Federal Detective Agency, in the sum of $5,000.00. A & P had filed a cross-claim of common law indemnification against Sharp and the detective agency, which apparently (by mutual consent of the parties) had been severed from the original proceeding and, subsequent to the jury verdict, was tried non-jury before the trial judge upon the identical record presented on the...