Kellogg v. Scheuerman

Citations

• 18 Wash. 293
• 51 P. 344
• 1897 Wash. LEXIS 157

Syllabus

<p>MALICIOUS PROSECUTION — EVIDENCE — STENOGRAPHER’S NOTES OP TESTIMONY AT CRIMINAL TRIAL — PROBABLE CAUSE—PLEADING.</p> <p>The admission in evidence, in an action for malicious prosecution, of the complaint and warrant upon which plaintiff had been arrested, is harmless error, where the defendants admit the proceedings before the magistrate.</p> <p>The testimony of a third person as to what a party to the action testified to in another proceeding is admissible, even if the party himself is within the jurisdiction of the court and capable of testifying to what he swore to on the former trial.</p> <p>While a stenographer who took notes of evidence in a former trial may testify in another action concerning the testimony of a witness or party in such former trial, and may refresh his memory by reference to his shorthand notes, it is not admissible for him to read directly from his notes to the court or jury.</p> <p>In an action to recover damages for malicious prosecution the plaintiff is not entitled to put in evidence those portions of the testimony taken in the criminal proceeding which were improper and irrelevant, such, for instance, as the ill-will of the prosecuting witness toward third persons.</p> <p>In an action for malicious prosecution evidence tending to show probable cause is admissible under the general denial, without being specially pleaded as a defense. .</p>