Title: Carnation Lbr. Co. v. McKenney

State: oregon

Issuer: Oregon Supreme Court

Document:

Affirmed November 9, 1960.
Carrell F. Bradley, Hillsboro, argued the cause for appellant. With him on the brief was George W. Mead, Portland.
*542 Francis E. Marsh, McMinnville, and Robert A. Leedy, Portland, argued the cause for respondents. On the brief were Gray & Lister, Portland, Nathan J. Heath, Portland, Theodore B. Jensen, Portland, Barzee, Leedy & Lind, Portland, Marsh, Marsh, Dashney & Cushing, McMinnville.
Before McALLISTER, Chief Justice, and ROSSMAN, PERRY, GOODWIN and KING, Justices.
AFFIRMED.
PERRY, J.
The plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for the malicious use of process, generally spoken of as "malicious prosecution." A demurrer was sustained to plaintiff's complaint and the plaintiff appeals.
The plaintiff's action seeks damages for the malicious prosecution of several civil suits which terminated favorably to the plaintiff. Plaintiff's complaint alleges these ultimate facts:
The basis upon which the demurrer was presented and sustained in the trial court is that there is no allegation in the complaint of seizure of the plaintiff's property or special injury sustained which would not ordinarily result in cases prosecuted for like causes.
The courts of the various jurisdictions in this country are almost equally divided upon this point. Numerically, the jurisdictions seem to favor the rule that an action for malicious prosecution will lie for the institution of a civil action maliciously and without probable cause although there was no interference with the person or property and no special injury can be shown. On the other hand, a great number hold that in the absence of interference with the person or property or some special injury such an action will not lie. See Annotations, 150 ALR 897; 54 CJS 964, Malicious Prosecution § 12.
The reasons advanced by the courts for their particular view seem to be as follows:
(1) Where the action will lie without allegation and proof of interference with the person or property or special injury, the courts reason that the statutory allowance of costs, disbursements and attorney's fees to the successful defendant is inadequate to compensate him for defending himself from the malicious action of the plaintiff, and that the plaintiff who rightfully sues and the plaintiff who perverts the use of the courts should not be upon precisely the same footing before the law. Kolka v. Jones, 6 ND 461, 71 NW 558; *544 Closson v. Staples, 42 Vt 209; 1 Harper & James, The Law of Torts 326, § 4.8; Prosser, Law of Torts (2d ed) 662, § 99.
(2) In jurisdictions where the action will not lie in the absence of interference or special injury the reasons therefor are set forth in Mitchell v. Silver Lake Lodge, 29 Or 294, 296, 45 P 798, as follows:
*545 The above case is not specific authority for the allowance or disallowance of an action for malicious prosecution in the absence of interference with the person or property or some special damage to a defendant. This particular issue was not before the court in that case for there had been interference with the property of the defendant through attachment proceedings.
In Hoffmann v. Kimmel, 142 Or 397, 20 P2d 393, this court declined to pass upon this particular issue, because there was probable cause for the commencement of the original suit.
Nevertheless, when we consider the background of the statement in Mitchell v. Silver Lake Lodge, supra, we discover the first Oregon Code (1854) was adopted almost verbatim from the code of civil procedure of the state of New York, as then in effect. See Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol IV, p 185, 190, Kelley, History of the Preparation of the First Code in Oregon; Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Vol XXVII (1936) p 3, 22, Beardsley, Code Making in Early Oregon.
In 1829, the New York Code of Civil Procedure provided the prevailing party, plaintiff or defendant, should recover his costs and disbursements, including a statutory attorney's fee. Vol. II, Title 3, Revised Statutes of New York 621 (1829). This provision regarding attorney's fees was designed to fully compensate the prevailing party. 38 Yale Law Journal 849, 873. These same provisions were adopted into the New York Code of 1853 (see Voorhies', New York Code of Procedure (3d ed) p 337, § 303) and in 1854 were adopted into the Oregon Code and still remain. ORS 20.010, 20.030, 20.060, 20.070.
The thought that persuaded the New York legislature that its costs and disbursement statute with its provision for attorney's fees was full and adequate *546 compensation for a successful litigant must have persuaded the Oregon Legislature when it adopted these provisions of the New York Code. Because of its statute, the state of New York has consistently held that an action for malicious prosecution of a civil action will not lie in the absence of interference with a defendant's person or property. Willard v. Holmes, Booth & Haydens, 142 NY 492, 37 NE 480; Ferguson v. Arnow, 142 NY 580, 37 NE 626; Sachs v. Weinstein, 208 App Div 360, 203 NYS 449; Paul v. Fargo, 84 App Div 9, 82 NYS 369. This position of the New York court's is highly persuasive.
The reason given by the jurisdictions, which allow maintenance of an action for malicious prosecution in civil proceedings in the absence of special injury on the basis that the recovery of costs, disbursements and statutory attorney's fees is inadequate compensation, seems to us faulty in logic. The successful defendant sued by a plaintiff with probable cause suffers the same inadequacy of compensation as does the defendant maliciously sued, still the statutory allowances are all the compensation he may receive. Therefore, we think it must be conceded that the statutory allowances are considered in law adequate to compensate a wrongfully sued litigant for his actual damages in defending himself. If, in fact, they are not, that question is to be determined by the legislature and not by the courts.
Therefore, it would seem that any logical basis for the allowance of a recovery where the suit or action is malicious lies not in the fact that the statutory allowances are inadequate, but because of the malice in the act, i.e., plaintiff has committed a wrong and should be punished.
It should be noted, in this state, and in the majority of jurisdictions, exemplary or punitive damages are *547 not recoverable in the absence of proof of actual damages. Ruble v. Kirkwood, 125 Or 316, 266 P 252; 33 ALR 386; 81 ALR 913.
1, 2. It must also be kept in mind, in considering this particular issue, that there is an underlying matter of public policy. While moral considerations require no one use the judicial processes for perverse purposes, on the other hand, the courts must always be open to the citizen to claim his rights without fear of being amerced by heavy damages should his cause fail.
3. "Actions for malicious prosecution are not favorites of the law" (Kuhnhausen v. Stadelman, 174 Or 290, 311, 148 P2d 239, 149 P2d 168) and while undoubtedly there will be instances where exact justice would be served by punishing a party for his malicious act in bringing a civil action without probable cause, in our opinion the greater good lies in maintaining the right of the individual to avail himself of the courts in quest of justice without fear of retaliatory action should his cause fail, especially if in so doing he does not interfere with the person or property of the defendant or cause him a special damage.
The judgment of the trial court sustaining the defendant's demurrer to plaintiff's complaint and dismissing plaintiff's action is affirmed.