SOUTHERN MANAGEMENT v. Taha
| Decision Date | 03 April 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 75,75 |
| Citation | 137 Md. App. 697,769 A.2d 962 |
| Parties | SOUTHERN MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, v. Mukhtar TAHA. |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
Stephen M. Silvestri (Lisa F. Orenstein and Miles & Stockbridge, P.C., on the brief), Baltimore, for appellant.
Hannibal G. Kemerer (John W. Hermina, George W. Hermina, Hermina Law Group, Laurel, and Forest E. Mays, Annapolis, on the brief), for appellee.
Argued before HOLLANDER, DEBORAH S. EYLER, and MARVIN H. SMITH (Retired, Specially Assigned), JJ. HOLLANDER, Judge.
In this case, we must consider whether a jury's verdict finding a corporate employer liable for malicious prosecution is fatally inconsistent with its verdict exonerating two corporate employees. The appeal arises from a suit filed in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County by Mukhtar Taha, appellee, against his former employer, Southern Management Corporation ("Southern"), appellant, and two former co-employees, Deborah Wylie-Forth and Michael McGovern,1 following Taha's discharge from his position at Southern. Taha claimed, inter alia, that Southern and the two individual employees committed the tort of malicious prosecution by filing unfounded burglary charges against him. The jury found in favor of the individual employees but against Southern. After the court denied appellant's Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict ("JNOV"), this appeal followed.2
Southern presents four questions for our consideration, which we have rephrased slightly:
I. Because the jury found that Southern's agents were not liable for the tort of malicious prosecution, did the circuit court err in denying Southern's Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict as to the claim for malicious prosecution?
II. Did the circuit court err in refusing to instruct the jury that it must find actual malice in order to award punitive damages?
III. Did the circuit court err in denying Southern's motion to strike punitive damages because there was no evidence of actual malice in the record to support the award?
IV. Did the circuit court err in denying Southern's motion for remittitur as to the jury's award of $25,000 for economic damages, because appellee sustained only $500 in such damages?
For the reasons that follow, we answer question I in the affirmative. Therefore, we shall reverse the judgment. Accordingly, we need not answer the remaining questions.
Taha is a black male who emigrated to the United States in 1981 from Africa. On May 15, 1994, Southern hired Taha to work as a Maintenance Technician at Silver Spring Towers ("SST"), an apartment complex managed by Southern. Taha's duties included attending to service calls and undertaking repairs and renovations.
After five months of employment, Southern terminated Taha on October 19, 1994. Six days later, on October 25, 1994, Taha was arrested at his apartment in the presence of his family. Taha's daughter was "devastated" and "fell on the floor crying." Taha's wife was also crying. The charging documents alleged a second degree attempted burglary of Southern's maintenance shop on October 4, 1994, and a fourth degree burglary of a Southern storehouse on October 8, 1994. The dismissal of the charges against Taha gave rise to the civil suit filed by him on March 3, 1999, against Southern, McGovern, and Wylie-Forth, alleging wrongful discharge, malicious prosecution, conspiracy, false imprisonment, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Southern and the two individual defendants were all represented by the same legal counsel.
Prior to trial, by order dated May 27, 1999, the circuit court dismissed all but two of Taha's claims. At the close of Taha's case, the circuit court entered judgment in favor of the defense as to the claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress, leaving only the claim for malicious prosecution.3 What follows is a summary of the evidence adduced at trial relevant to the malicious prosecution claim.
While at SST, Taha worked under the supervision of McGovern, who managed the maintenance employees at the complex. McGovern was the only white employee at SST among 30 or more employees. McGovern reported to Wylie-Forth, a black female who was the Property Manager of the apartment complex. McGovern and Wylie Forth had worked together for over 10 years.
Taha alleged that he was implicated in two burglaries at Southern because of his poor working relationship with McGovern and Wylie-Forth. He claimed that within several weeks after he began working at SST, McGovern and Wylie-Forth were unhappy with his job performance and indicated that he needed to be more of a "team player." Wylie-Forth also disliked Taha's abrasive conduct and advised Taha that he needed to cooperate with the other employees. Taha believed, however, that his job performance was adequate, and felt that he had been criticized unfairly because McGovern and Wylie-Forth did not like him.
At trial, Taha recounted that McGovern complained to Wylie-Forth "[a]lmost every day" about Taha's performance. Taha also stated that McGovern singled him out and complained about "the smallest stuff," such as the length of his hair. Additionally, Taha testified that McGovern made derogatory remarks to him about Africans and African-Americans, describing them as "lazy" and "stupid." According to Taha, McGovern once Further, Taha believed that McGovern and other employees, including Wilfredo Martinez, purposely attempted to injure him by letting go of a heavy barrel that they were attempting to move.
Taha testified that on three or four occasions he complained to Wylie-Forth about McGovern's racial comments. According to Taha, Wylie-Forth was unresponsive and told him that he complained "like a child." When Taha told Wylie-Forth about the shirt incident, she remarked:
On or about October 5, 1994, McGovern sent a memorandum to Wylie-Forth implicating Taha in an attempted burglary of one of Southern's maintenance shops. The memorandum said:
DEAR DEBRA [sic]:
A few days later, Wylie-Forth learned that property had been removed from a locked storage area containing Southern's maintenance supplies and tools. Consequently, she called the Montgomery County Police Department to report the missing property.
At trial, Wylie-Forth testified as an adverse witness and also in the defense case. When asked if she had called the police to report the missing property, Wylie-Forth initially said: "No. Someone in my office called the police." When asked again, she replied: "I can't remember." When asked a third time, Wylie-Forth admitted: "Yes, I called the police." Later, she said: "I did not call the police on Mr. Taha." In response to a question from her lawyer, Wylie-Forth explained: "[I]n my business anytime you have any type of an incident where something is stolen ... or broken into, you are supposed to call ... the ... police."
On October 23, 1994, Robert Grims, a Montgomery County Police Officer, responded to the call about missing property. Although Wylie-Forth advised him that several expensive tools were missing, she did not identify any suspects. Nevertheless, in response to Grims's inquiry, Wylie-Forth identified Taha as an employee who had recently been terminated, and said that two of her maintenance workers reported that Taha had been seen at SST. She also informed Grims that she and Taha had argued after his termination. Additionally, Wylie-Forth gave permission to Grims to talk to any of Southern's employees about the matter.
Grims spoke to McGovern, who informed Grims that his tools were missing from the storage room. Although McGovern did not identify Taha as a suspect, he told Grims that Taha and Wylie-Forth had argued following Taha's termination, and that McGovern believed that Taha still had keys to the storage area. During Grims's investigation, he also interviewed Wilfredo Martinez and Anna Udit, two other Southern employees. Neither Martinez nor Udit testified at trial.4
Grims also interviewed Taha at his apartment, and Taha denied knowledge of the burglaries. Although Taha indicated that he still had keys to several rooms in the apartment complex, Taha claimed he did not have keys to the areas in question. Grims noticed several large tool boxes on the floor of Taha's apartment, but Taha indicated that those tools belonged to him.
Based on Grims's investigation, Grims completed an Application for Statement of Charges, charging Taha with second degree attempted burglary of the maintenance room at SST, and fourth-degree burglary of the main office at SST. Grims also obtained a warrant for Taha's arrest.
According to the Application For Statement Of...
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