Noce v. Ritchie S.
| Decision Date | 23 September 1930 |
| Docket Number | (No. 6558) |
| Citation | 109 W.Va. 391 |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | Frank Noce v. C. C. Ritchie et als. |
1. An officer making an arrest for a misdemeanor without a warrant must justify himself by showing specially to the court that the act was lawful; otherwise he is guilty of false arrest or imprisonment.
2. False arrest or false imprisonment gives an absolute right to recover at least nominal damages, and neither probable cause to believe the injured party guilty of an offense nor lack of malice on the part of the defendant will legally justify the wrongful act or defeat the right of action.
Error to Circuit Court, Wyoming County.
Action by Frank Noce against C. C. Ritchie and others for false imprisonment. Judgment for defendants, plaintiff brings error.
Affirmed in part; reversed in part. Bailey & Shannon, for plaintiff.
E. W. Worrell and Hartley Sanders, for defendant in error.
The gist of this action of trespass on the case false imprisonment is that plaintiff was placed under arrest and detained by W. A. Rinehart, constable, until the latter could secure a warrant. At the completion of plaintiff's evidence, the same was stricken on motion of the several defendants, including Rinehart, and a verdict directed in their favor. Plaintiff brings error.
"False imprisonment is the unlawful arrest or detention of a person, without warrant, or by an illegal warrant, or a warrant illegally executed, and either in a prison or a place used temporarily for that purpose, or by force and constraint without confinement." 8 Ency. PI. & Prac. 841.
It appears from the evidence adduced that Rinehart, acting under a search warrant (section 9, chapter 32-A, Code) searched the house of one H. B. Hackett for intoxicating liquors. The return recites: "Executed the within warrant on the 5th day of March, 1928, by searching the house of H. B. Hackett and no liquor found, and arrested Sadie Hackett and Frank Noce who I now have before the justice for adultery." The justice, on being informed of the particulars, filled out a complaint charging adultery and fornication, and the same was signed by Rinehart.
The return on the search and seizure warrant shows that the constable was not warranted in making an arrest thereunder. State v. Massie, 95 W. Va. 233. So, in order to warrant the arrest the act of adultery must have been committed in his presence. Allen v. Lopinsky, 81 W. Va. 13; State v. Gum, 68 W. Va. 105; Code, chapter 50, section 221. A crime is committed in the presence of an officer, when the facts and circumstances occurring within his observation, in connection with what, under the circumstances, may be considered as common knowledge, give him probable cause to believe or rea sonable grounds to suspect that such is the case. State v. Koil, 103 W. Va. 19; State v. Lutz, 85 W. Va. 330. The...
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City of McMechen ex rel. Willey v. Fidelity & Cas. Co. of N. Y.
...on the part of the defendant will legally justify the wrongful act or defeat the right of action.' (Italics supplied.) Noce v. Ritchie et al., 109 W.Va. 391, 155 S.E. 127, pt. 2 syl. See also George v. Norfolk & W. Railway Company, 78 W.Va. 345, 88 S.E. 1036. 'In effecting an arrest, an off......
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Coverstone v. Davies
...Ohio App. 257, 261-263, 183 N.E. 119, error dismissed, 124 Ohio St. 666, 181 N.E. 879; 124 Ohio St. 667, 181 N.E. 888; Noce v. Ritchie, 109 W.Va. 391, 392, 155 S.E. 127; State ex rel. Verdis v. Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York, 120 W.Va. 593, 597, 199 S.E. 884; State v. Rigsby, 124 W.Va.......
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State v. Byers
...(1971).3 State v. Lutz, 85 W.Va. 330, 101 S.E. 434 (1919). We note that the term 'in the presence' has been defined in Noce v. Ritchie, 109 W.Va. 391, 155 S.E. 127 (1930); State v. Koil, 103 W.Va. 19, 136 S.E. 510 (1927); and State v. Lutz, supra. We do not resort to the holdings of those c......
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State for Use and Benefit of Morris v. Mills
...to an action for false arrest, and cites the cases of George v. Norfolk and Western Ry. Co.,78 W.Va. 345, 88 S.E. 1036; Noce v. Ritchie, 109 W.Va. 391, 155 S.E. 127; City of McMechen v. Fidelity and Casualty Co. of New York, 145 W.Va. 660, 116 S.E.2d 388; State ex rel. Sovine v. Stone, 149 ......