Delany v. Lindsay

Citations

• 46 Pa. Super. 26
• 1911 Pa. Super. LEXIS 223

Syllabus

<p>Malicious prosecution — Want of probable cause — Acquittal—Evidence —Burden of proof.</p> <p>1. An acquittal or lawful discharge of the defendant in a criminal case is prima facie evidence of want of probable cause in an action of malicious prosecution, and such evidence is sufficient to carry the case to the jury.</p> <p>2. The burden of showing probable cause is not placed on the defendant where the plaintiff was acquitted or discharged in the criminal proceeding, if it appears in the testimony of the plaintiff that there was probable cause.</p> <p>3. In an action for malicious prosecution, the case is for the jury, where it appears that the plaintiff was acquitted of a charge of larceny brought against him by the defendant, and the evidence for the plaintiff although in some respects contradicted tends to show that the controversy arose over some straw in which both parties claimed an interest, and which was in the rightful possession of the plaintiff, that the defendant had refused to take the advice of an attorney who told him that the case was not a criminal one, and that the defendant had said that he would have the plaintiff arrested anyhow, and that he would make him “smoke.”</p> <p>4. Though a person is arrested on a legal warrant, if one of the objects of the prosecution is to enforce the settlement of a civil claim, such arrest is false imprisonment.</p>