Malvern Brick & Tile Co. v. Hill

• Decision Date: 16 January 1961
• Docket Number: No. 5-2268,5-2268
• Citation: 342 S.W.2d 305,232 Ark. 1000
• Parties: MALVERN BRICK & TILE COMPANY et al., Appellants, v. A. J. HILL, Appellee.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 305

342 S.W.2d 305

232 Ark. 1000

MALVERN BRICK & TILE COMPANY et al., Appellants, v. A. J. HILL, Appellee.

No. 5-2268.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Jan. 16, 1961.

Joe W. McCoy, Malvern; Wootton, Land & Matthews, Hot Springs, for appellants.

James C. Cole and Gerald W. Scott, Malvern, for appellee.

McFADDIN, Justice.

Appellee, A. J. Hill, filed this action for damages for malicious prosecution, naming as defendants Every Mendenhall, F. P. Garvan, and Malvern Brick & Tile Company. There was a jury verdict and judgment for the plaintiff against all of the defendants for $750 actual damages and $250 punitive damages; and this appeal challenges the said judgment.

Malvern Brick & Tile Company (hereinafter sometimes called 'Malvern')--as its name implies--is a company engaged in the manufacture of brick and tile in Malvern, Arkansas; F. P. Garvan at all times herein involved was the executive vice-president of the said Company; and Every Mendenhall was an employee of the said Company. In September 1959 there arose a labor dispute between Malvern and its employees. Some of the workers went out on strike and formed a picket line, but Mendenhal continued to work notwithstanding the strike. Some time during the night of October 10, 1959 several shots were fired into the home of Mendenhall, and he saw some persons running away from his house, entering an automobile, and driving away. Mendenhall drove in his car from his home to a store nearby for the purpose of calling law enforcement officers to make an investigation. After he reached the store and as he was enroute from his car to the telephone, Mendenhall was assaulted and beaten by a group of persons. He claimed to have recognized his assailants. Mendenhall's wife and father-in-law had followed him in another car, and they arrived on the scene in time to stop the fight before serious injuries were suffered by anyone.

The foregoing occurred on Saturday night, October 10, 1959. On Monday morning, October 12th, Mendenhall went to the office of Malvern and reported the occurrence to Mr. Garvan and named the persons whom he said had assaulted him. After a short time, Garvan and another employee took Mendenhall and another worker to the office of the Prosecuting Attorney in Malvern; and Mendenhall related what he said the facts were, and signed an affidavit for a warrant of arrest against seven persons, being: J. L. Watkins, Charlie James Carroll, Ralph T. Junior, J. W. Blackmon, Willie Carroll Williams, M. T. Dedmon, and A. J. Hill. The persons named in the affidavit ¹ were charged with assault and battery. The prosecution was not on information filed by the Prosecuting Attorney, but on an affidavit for warrant of arrest made by Mendenhall; and Malvern posted approximately $100 as advance court costs to insure the prosecution of the seven named persons. Each was arrested and tried in the Municipal Court of Malvern; and all of those named were found guilty of assault and battery with the exception of A. J. Hill: he was acquitted because he testified that he was not present at the time and place when Mendenhall was assaulted.

Then, on January 21, 1960, A. J. Hill filed the present action for malicious prosecution against Mendenhall, Garvan and Malvern. As aforesaid, the verdict and judgment in the malicious prosecution case was in favor of Hill and against each of the defendants for $750 actual damages and $250 punitive damages; each of the defendants has appealed; and each urges in this Court that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict. Before discussing the situation as to each appellant, it is well that we state the applicable law. In an action for malicious prosecution the burden is on the plaintiff to establish that the defendant acted maliciously and without probable cause, in prosecuting the plaintiff. In short, malice and want of probable cause are essential elements in an action for malicious prosecution. Foster v. Pitts, 63 Ark. 387, 38 S.W. 1114; Kable v. Carey, 135 Ark. 137, 204 S.W. 748, 12 A.L.R. 1227; Keebey v. Stifft, 145 Ark. 8, 224 S.W. 396; Wm. R. Moore D. G. Co. v. Mann, 171 Ark. 350, 284 S.W. 42; Gazzola v. New, 191 Ark. 724, 87 S.W.2d 68. At the close of the testimony, each defendant moved for an instructed verdict; and the question presented is, whether the evidence was sufficient to take the case to the jury, either (1) as against Mendenhall, or (2) as against Garvan and Malvern. We discuss these points separately.

I. Was The Evidence Sufficient To Support The Verdict Against Mendenhall? We have previously sketched some of the background facts, but there were other facts shown which have a direct bearing on the question here posed. Mendenhall caused Hill's arrest for assault and battery alleged to have been committed on Mendenhall on Saturday night, October 10th. Hill was acquitted of the charge of assault and battery; and then instituted the present malicious prosecution proceedings, claiming that Mendenhall, in prosecuting Hill for assault and battery, was guilty of malice and had acted without probable cause. Watkins, Junior, Blackmon, Carroll, Williams, and Dedmon were the other six persons named by Mendenhall in his affidavit for the warrant of arrest. Each of those persons was convicted; and yet in the present case each one of those persons testified that A. J. Hill was not present when Mendenhall was assaulted. Hill and his wife testified that they were either at home or visiting with friends a short distance from their home on the night of October 10th and were all the time a considerable distance from the place where Mendenhall was assaulted. Thus, there was evidence from which the jury could have found--as it apparently did--that Hill was not a party to the attack on Mendenhall.

Did Mendenhall have probable cause for naming Hill as one of his attackers? If Mendenhall had testified that he was so excited by the attack that he mistook some other person for Hill, then the jury might have thought that Mendenhall had acted with probable cause. But at this malicious prosecution trial, Mendenhall stoutly insisted that Hill was one of his attackers, ² and Mendenhall called his wife and his father-in-law to substantiate his testimony as to Hill's participation in the attack. Thus, when the jury in the case at bar found that Hill was not one of Mendenhall's assailants, the jury could have also found that Mendenhall had acted without probable cause in naming Hill, and also the jury might well have inferred that Mendenhall had named Hill as one of the assailants and obtained the supporting testimony, all out of a spirit of malice, if there was no probable cause shown for naming Hill. We have several cases which say that malice may be inferred when there is lack of probable cause, even though there was no express showing of malice. Hall v. Adams, 128 Ark. 116, 193 S.W. 520; Williams v. Orblitt, 131 Ark. 408, 199 S.W. 91; and Louisiana Oil Ref. Corp. v. Yelton, 188 Ark. 280, 65 S.W.2d 537.

To summarize: in the malicious prosecution case Mendenhall attempted to prove Hill's guilt in the assault case as a complete defense to the malicious prosecution action (Whipple v. Gorsuch, 82 Ark. 252, 101 S.W. 735, 10 L.R.A.,N.S., 1133); and when Mendenhall failed to prove such guilt, the failure showed want of probable cause, and also boomeranged into an inference of malice. We have detailed sufficient evidence to support the verdict against Mendenhall on the point urged by him.

II. Was The Evidence Sufficient To Support The Verdict Against Garvan And Malvern? As heretofore stated, before Hill could recover from these defendants he had to establish (1) that they acted without probable cause and (2) that they acted with malice, in aiding Mendenhall as they did: i. e., taking him to the Prosecuting Attorney, advancing the court costs, and being present--if they were--at the criminal trial. See Gordon v. McLearn, 123 Ark. 496, 185 S.W. 803. What is the evidence against Garvan and Malvern? Mendenhall told them that Hill was one of his assailants. Not only did Mendenhall tell them that Hill was one of the assailants, but Mendenhall made an affidavit to that effect. Garvan and Malvern acted only as a good employer would have acted under such circumstances. In malicious prosecution cases we have defined the words, 'probable cause,' as, 'such a state of facts known to the prosecutor, or such information received by him from sources entitled to credit, as would induce a man of ordinary caution and prudence to believe, and did induce the prosecutor to believe, that the accused was guilty of the crime alleged, and thereby caused the prosecution.' Hitson v. Sims, 69 Ark. 439, 64 S.W. 219; Whipple v. Gorsuch, 82 Ark. 252, 101 S.W. 735, 10 L.R.A.,N.S., 1133. When Mendenhall told Garvan and Malvern that he had been assaulted, he also told them that bullets had been fired into his house. Garvan went to the house and found where the bullets had been fired into it. It was not Garvan's duty to consult with each of the named assailants before taking Hill's word for the statements....