Opinion ID: 2451624
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Action Against The Kroger Company

Text: In her suit against The Kroger Company, appellant sought damages for malicious prosecution and for defamation of character. With respect to the latter claim, however, appellant offered no evidence of specific false or slanderous statements made by The Kroger Company to any individual or business entity. Without evidence as to some specific publication of libelous or slanderous material, and the content of that material, there is no predicate in the record for any separate award against Kroger for libel or slander. In dictum, the Court of Appeals indicated that after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings against appellant, The Kroger Company put Gina Pera's name in Checkfax, and that appellant might have had a claim for outrageous conduct. There is very little evidence in the record concerning Checkfax, and the evidence is very indefinite as to the date when Kroger put Gina Pera's name into that system. Apparently, insofar as can be gleaned from the meager evidence on the point, Checkfax is some sort of national or regional service subscribed to by retail merchants and other businesses giving information concerning persons who may have passed worthless checks or been guilty of other improper business practices. As stated, the record is undeveloped as to the nature or extent of the services of this company or as to how businesses subscribe to it. Appellant testified that she wrote to the company on one occasion, but no witness from Checkfax was called to testify, by deposition or otherwise. The manager of the Kroger store, Mr. Cheatwood, testified: Q. Concerning Checkfax, sir, when does The Kroger Corporation send a, quote, `bad check,' end quote, into Checkfax' systems? A. It may vary by store as far as how timely it is done. We try to be very timely with it as far as entering it. We have more than one store in Knoxville, which I am sure you are aware of, and we have instances where people hit one Kroger Store and go down the street and hit another so when you get a bad check back, it is advantageous to, all, to get it into Checkfax as soon as possible. Q. Okay, and if the policy that you were responsible for at your Kroger Store were followed, this would have been sent to Checkfax very quickly? A. Yes, but I am not real sure what time we went on Checkfax. It was sometime during this period. We haven't always been on Checkfax. I am not sure of the day when we actually started Checkfax. We may have just picked it up when we went, you know, started with the company with Checkfax. Checkfax would have to tell you that. This testimony seems to indicate that appellee entered appellant's name into the system at or about the time appellant's check was dishonored and before the criminal charges had been dismissed. The trial record does not reveal the exact time when this occurred. Appellant testified, however, that immediately after the criminal charges were dismissed she called Mr. Harrison, the assistant Kroger manager, offering to pay the check so that she could settle this matter and get my credit rating cleared... . This indicates that appellant knew at the time the charges were pending that her name had already been sent to Checkfax, or at least that her outstanding unpaid check could adversely affect her credit. Mr. Harrison testified that he did not withdraw the name of Ms. Pera from the system since she never paid the check. He said that after the criminal charges were dismissed she offered to pay the check, but it had been his understanding from his discussion with the District Attorney that she would also give The Kroger Company a release. Since she declined to give the release, Mr. Harrison took no further action. It was during the fall of 1979, some six months after dismissal of the criminal charges, that another merchant declined to take a check from the appellant because her name was in the Checkfax system to which that merchant subscribed. Appellant then contacted Checkfax and also contacted The Kroger Company. Shortly after she filed this suit in April 1980, counsel for The Kroger Company wrote a letter to counsel for the plaintiff, filed as Exhibit 26 in the trial record, concerning this matter. He stated that appellant had made demand upon Checkfax to remove the Category 9 classification outstanding against her. There is no explanation in the record as to what Category 9 involves or as to what indication or statement Kroger had made to Checkfax in order to have appellant's name entered thereunder. Counsel's letter, dated May 9, 1980, continues: It is my further understanding that your client has made tender and continues to make tender to pay the Kroger Co. the sum of $17.61 which constitutes the purchase price of the groceries that she purchased at the Kroger Co. but for which she has not paid. I have advised my client to accept the tender to pick up the check that was returned for insufficient funds. Upon delivery of funds sufficient to cover that check, I will advise my client to remove the Category 9 classification. Please tell us of your desires. Apparently no reply was made to this offer to remove appellant's name upon her paying the nominal sum involved in this case. Apparently, she never has paid it. It was not paid at the time of trial, and judgment was rendered against her for it. The record is not developed sufficiently to support a claim against Kroger for outrageous conduct, as suggested by the Court of Appeals, even if such a claim had been made. Under the trial record, therefore, any claim which appellant might have against The Kroger Company must rest upon principles governing the tort action for malicious prosecution. Both the trial court and the Court of Appeals held that appellee had probable cause for instituting the criminal proceedings in the first instance. We are of the opinion that this decision was correct. The Kroger Company was in possession of a check which had been twice returned to it from its own bank and which had been returned unpaid from the drawee bank. The reason given was unable to locate account. We believe that to any non-banking merchant, this legend would, at a minimum, indicate doubt as to whether the drawer had an account at that bank, or as to whether there were sufficient funds to cover the check. All that the Tennessee worthless check law requires as evidence of intent to defraud by the drawer is the issuance of a check payment of which is refused by the drawee... . T.C.A. § 39-3-302. Such refusal of payment, by statute, creates prima facie evidence and a presumption of intent to defraud and of knowledge of insufficient funds in or on deposit with the drawee if the drawer does not pay the amount due after five days written notice. The Kroger Company in the present case gave ten days written notice and in addition placed two telephone calls to the drawer, all without result or response. Accordingly, in our opinion, there was probable cause for The Kroger Company to institute the criminal proceedings and to have a warrant issued. A more serious question arises, however, as to the continuation of the prosecution after it became known that there had been some sort of misunderstanding or bank error as it is called in the record, and that appellant actually did have funds on deposit sufficient to cover the check. It is well settled in the law of torts that even though one has probable cause to initiate criminal charges, there can be liability for the malicious continuation of a criminal proceeding. Appellant asserted this theory throughout the trial and on appeal, but neither court below considered it in detail. The governing principles are stated in Restatement (Second) of Torts § 655 (1977) as follows: A private person who takes an active part in continuing or procuring the continuation of criminal proceedings initiated by himself or by another is subject to the same liability for malicious prosecution as if he had then initiated the proceedings. In Comment d it is pointed out that the prosecutor is not liable for any harm which the accused might have suffered in connection with the initiation of the proceedings but only for those incurred during the time when the proceedings were improperly continued. An illustration suggested under which liability might arise under this section involves the initiation of a criminal prosecution for alleged theft, but the prosecutor later learns that he had merely mislaid his property. For the purpose of compelling the accused to pay a debt to another person the prosecutor persuades the prosecuting attorney to proceed with the trial. A number of cases have arisen involving this principle. See generally 52 Am.Jur.2d, Malicious Prosecution § 26 (1970). In order for liability to be imposed under this principle, however, the prosecuting witness must have some control over the prosecution. It appears to be well settled that where the instigator has no control over the case once prosecution has begun, his participation will not subject him to liability. See Nicholson v. Roop, 62 N.W.2d 473, 43 A.L.R.2d 1031 (N.D. 1954). As stated in the Restatement, Comment c:  Active participation required. In order that there may be liability under the rule stated in this Section, the defendant must take an active part in their prosecution after learning that there is no probable cause for believing the accused guilty. It is not enough that he appears as a witness against the accused either under subpoena or voluntarily, and thereby aids in the prosecution of the charges which he knows to be groundless. His share in continuing the prosecution must be active, as by insisting upon or urging further prosecution. The fact that he initiated the proceedings does not make him liable under the rule stated in this Section merely because he intentionally refrains from informing a public prosecutor, into whose control the prosecution has passed, of subsequently discovered facts that clearly indicate the innocence of the accused, even though they have the effect of convincing him that this is the fact. Cases in which liability has been imposed under the principles involved here usually involve conduct such as urging a prosecutor to proceed against his own advice or judgment, such as Ira v. Columbia Food Co., 226 Or. 566, 360 P.2d 622, 86 A.L.R.2d 1378 (1961). In other cases the persistent identification of an accused whose innocence has otherwise been established has been held sufficient. See Malvern Brick & Tile Co. v. Hill, 232 Ark. 1000, 342 S.W.2d 305 (1961); Eastman v. Leiser Co., 148 Minn. 96, 181 N.W. 109 (1921); Annot. 66 A.L.R.3d 10, 47 (1975). In Tennessee a private prosecutor does not control the prosecution. This is left in the hands of the District Attorney and of the Court. See Rule 48, Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure; see also T.C.A. § 8-7-103(1) making it the duty of the District Attorney General to prosecute on behalf of the state every case in which the state is a party or in anywise interested. As previously indicated, The Kroger Company obtained a warrant for the arrest of appellant on December 5, 1978, about seven weeks after the check had been issued. She was contacted by officers from the Sheriff's Department on the evening of December 11, 1978, but arranged not to be taken into custody until the following day. On the morning of December 12 her attorney contacted Mr. Harrison, but the latter told the attorney that he could not accept payment of the check at that time because the matter had already been turned over to the courts. [5] Mr. Harrison told the attorney for appellant that he would send the check to court on the afternoon of December 12, although the case was not scheduled for hearing at that time. Mr. Cheatwood actually went to court and took the check with him. He showed his entire file to counsel for appellant and also to the prosecuting attorney. Although the case was not at that time on the docket, a conference was held with a judge of the General Sessions Court and with a representative of the bank, who came to court at the request of appellant. The Assistant District Attorney apparently concluded that the failure of the bank to pay the check was due to some bank error, but he later testified that there seemed to be some factual dispute concerning this and that for that reason the prosecution continued. There is other testimony in the record that because none of the parties would agree at this informal hearing to pay the court costs involved in the criminal proceedings, the General Sessions judge concluded that he had no alternative but to have the warrant executed, appellant arrested, and the case set for further hearing. This was done, and on January 15, 1979, the case came on for hearing before a different General Sessions judge. At that time appellant declined to submit to the jurisdiction of the court for trial, and a preliminary hearing was had. [6] On that occasion seemingly there was a full disclosure of all of the facts made to all of the parties, but again no agreement could be reached concerning the court costs. Both the prosecuting attorney and the General Sessions judge insisted that these must be paid before the case could be dismissed, and neither Ms. Pera, Kroger nor the bank was willing to pay them. Accordingly, correctly or otherwise, the General Sessions judge bound the matter over to the grand jury of Knox County. This body subsequently convened, and both Mr. Harrison and a Kroger employee who had received the check from appellant appeared and testified. A different Assistant District Attorney handled the grand jury proceeding. He testified at the trial of this case. He had no knowledge or recollection concerning this particular incident. He testified that he routinely asked a minimum number of questions of the holder of a worthless check, and Mr. Harrison confirmed this. Harrison testified that he simply presented the check, the notice letter and his file. He did not tell the prosecuting attorney or the grand jury that there apparently had been some problem or error made at appellant's bank concerning her check, but no questions concerning this were asked of him. The grand jury indicted appellant but when the matter reached the Criminal Court of Knox County it was dismissed upon motion of another Assistant District Attorney with the approval of the judge of that court. No costs were charged to either of the private litigants involved in the proceedings, and, apparently, they were borne by the State. There is no evidence that Kroger urged that the prosecution continue. When the Assistant District Attorney handling the matter in the criminal court recommended to Mr. Harrison that the charges be dismissed, Harrison readily agreed. It was Harrison's understanding that Ms. Pera would pay the check and release Kroger from all claims, but when she did not do so, Harrison never undertook to reinstitute the proceedings. Although in its pleadings The Kroger Company relied upon the defense of advice of the District Attorney, the record fails to sustain that contention. None of the staff members of the District Attorney who testified in the case indicated that they had been consulted by The Kroger Company or had given any advice to that company concerning the continuation or discontinuance of the prosecution. Cf. Peoples Protective Life Ins. Co. v. Neuhoff, 56 Tenn. App. 346, 407 S.W.2d 190 (1966). On the other hand, for obvious reasons of public policy, it is generally held that proceedings before a grand jury are privileged and that a prosecuting witness ordinarily plays only a passive role in appearing before that body. See generally Rose v. Whitbeck, 277 Or. 803, 562 P.2d 194 (1977). There is even authority that liability for malicious prosecution will not be imposed for the giving of false testimony before a grand jury. See Whittaker v. Duke, 473 F. Supp. 908, 911 (S.D.N.Y. 1979). The principles governing proceedings such as this are stated in a leading authority on torts as follows: The defendant may be liable either for initiating or for continuing a criminal prosecution without probable cause. But he cannot be held responsible unless he takes some active part in instigating or encouraging the prosecution. He is not liable merely because of his approval or silent acquiescence in the acts of another, nor for appearing as a witness against the accused, even though his testimony is perjured, since the necessities of a free trial demand that witnesses are not to be deterred by fear of tort suits, and shall be immune from liability. On the other hand, if he advises or assists another person to begin the proceeding, ratifies it when it is begun in his behalf, or takes any active part in directing or aiding the conduct of the case, he will be responsible. W.L. Prosser, Law of Torts 836-37 (4th ed. 1971). We are of the opinion that the evidence does not justify a conclusion that The Kroger Company was sufficiently legally responsible for the continuation of the prosecution or that it had sufficient control over the proceedings to render it liable under the principles of § 655 Restatement of Torts 2d, cited above. It appears that numerous errors may have been made by all concerned in this proceeding, including officials of the criminal justice system. Those officials, however, are immune from suits such as this, and private litigants cannot be held responsible in civil damages for any errors which may have been committed by judges or prosecuting attorneys. A member of the District Attorney's staff and two General Sessions judges were fully apprised of all of the facts of this case during December 1978 and January 1979. That they saw fit to continue the prosecution because of accrued court costs is not the responsibility of the appellee. The judgment of the trial court and of the Court of Appeals, dismissing the action as to The Kroger Company, is affirmed. All costs are taxed to appellant. The cause will be remanded to the trial court for entry of any further orders which may be necessary. FONES, C.J., and COOPER and DROWOTA, JJ., concur. BROCK, J., files opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.