Opinion ID: 64044
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Malicious Prosecution by the Tebo Brothers

Text: The next claim we examine is that for malicious prosecution, which is an appropriate legal rubric for her claim that the commitment proceedings were brought for improper reasons and through false affidavits. In Mississippi, this tort has six elements: (1) The institution of a criminal [or civil] proceeding; (2) by, or at the insistence of, the defendant; (3) the termination of such proceedings in plaintiff's favor; (4) malice in instituting the proceedings; (5) want of probable cause in the institution of the proceedings; (6) the suffering of injury or damage as a result of the prosecution. Parker v. Miss. Game & Fish Comm'n, 555 So.2d 725, 728 (Miss. 1989); see also Condere Corp. v. Moon, 880 So.2d 1038, 1042 (Miss.2004) (each element must be shown by a preponderance of evidence). Though the parties do not discuss these elements systematically, there appears to be no dispute as to the first three elements. Mrs. Tebo arguably alleges injuries sufficient to raise an issue of material fact as to element six. Thus, the validity of summary judgment hinges on the existence of a question of material fact as to elements four and five. Because of our conclusion that the Tebo brothers are entitled to judgment as a matter of law due to the probable cause element, we do not examine the question of malice. The probable cause that must exist requires a concurrence of an honest belief in the guilt of the person accused and reasonable grounds for such belief. Nassar v. Concordia Rod & Gun Club, Inc., 682 So.2d 1035, 1042 (Miss.1996). To understand what this means, we have found the source of the standard to be Harvill v. Tabor, 240 Miss. 750, 128 So.2d 863, 865 (1961). Among other authorities, the Harvill court relied on a case that summarized the Restatement definition of the probable cause element in malicious prosecutions: One who initiates criminal proceedings against another has probable cause for so doing if he (a) reasonably believes that the person accused has acted or failed to act in a particular manner, and (b)(i) correctly believes that such acts or omissions constitute at common law or under an existing statute the offense charged against the accused, or (ii) mistakenly so believes in reliance on the advice of counsel under the conditions stated in § 666 (effect of advice of counsel). RESTATEMENT OF TORTS § 662 (1938) (cited in State Life Ins. Co. of Indianapolis, Ind. v. Hardy, 189 Miss. 266, 195 So. 708, 713 (1940)). Also assisting our understanding is an encyclopedia cited in Harvill that said an honest and reasonable belief in guilt, not the actual state of the case that had earlier been brought, controlled as to probable cause. 34 AM.JUR. Malicious Prosecution § 49 (1941). This first articulation of a need for concurrence combined a reasonable belief in what factually occurred with the requirement that such acts would be an offense. A later reiteration is that if the person instigating the proceeding reasonably believed he [had] a good chance of establishing [his case] to the satisfaction of the court or the jury, there was probable cause. Condere, 690 So.2d at 1195 (quoting W. PROSSER & W. KEETON, THE LAW OF TORTS § 120, at 893 (5th ed.1984)). Malice is a separate element of the tort. A defendant's motives and desires fit under the element of malice; what a person believed about the validity of the proceedings would be analyzed under probable cause. This understanding is confirmed by recent case law stating that probable cause is largely objective, while malice is subjective: In analyzing probable cause and malice, courts look to objective facts as to the former and the subjective state of mind as to the latter. Probable cause is determined from the facts apparent to the observer when prosecution is initiated. When the facts are undisputed, it is the function of the court to determine whether or not probable cause existed. If the facts are in dispute, under our decisions it is a jury question, based upon proper instructions, to determine whether or not probable cause existed. Malice, on the other hand, is a mental state. Its existence may be proved by circumstantial evidence, or the jury may infer malice from the facts of the case. Nassar, 682 So.2d at 1043 (quoting Owens v. Kroger Co., 430 So.2d 843, 846 (Miss. 1983)). The Owens language that probable cause is an objective matter may be in some tension with the explanation that probable cause contains both a subjective and an objective component. Id. at 1043. Still, Nassar 's quoting of the Owens language at least means that the issue of malice needs to be kept distinct from the probable cause analysis. We next review the Mississippi case law to determine whether a plaintiff must prove both that a defendant did not actually believe there was probable cause and also that there objectively was none, or whether if either form of probable cause existed, no liability arises. In one case, judgment for the defendant was reversed despite his honest belief that the plaintiff had been the criminal perpetrator, but the court found it not to be a reasonable belief. Concordia, 682 So.2d at 1045-46. Therefore, a plaintiff shows sufficient absence of probable cause if either the belief or the actuality is missing. Summary judgment for a defendant is improper unless there is no dispute of material fact that probable cause from both perspectives existed. Probable cause, of course, must have a context. The context here is the commencement of proceedings for Mrs. Tebo's evaluation and possible commitment to a mental institution. The Tebo brothers had probable cause if they honestly believed and also had a reasonable basis for believing that facts existed warranting the proceedings that later are challenged. Miss. Rd. Supply Co. v. Zurich-American Ins. Co., 501 So.2d 412, 414 (Miss.1987). This court has sought to elaborate on the meaning of probable cause. Over two decades ago, we concluded without any precedent from that state yet existing that Mississippi courts would require a lesser degree of certainty from a citizen who initiates civil proceedings than is required of a prosecutor: the initiator of private civil proceedings need not have the same degree of certainty as to the relevant facts that is required of a private prosecutor of criminal proceedings. In many cases, civil proceedings, to be effective, must be begun before all the relevant facts can be ascertained to a reasonable degree of certainty. Armco, Inc. v. Southern Rock, Inc., 778 F.2d 1134, 1137 (5th Cir.1985) (quoting RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 67). No subsequent Mississippi state court precedent has addressed the point, though our opinion was cited favorably by the intermediate state court for another principle. Chapman v. Thornhill, 802 So.2d 149, 153 (Miss.Ct.App.2001). The view has also been endorsed by the authors of the relevant chapter of a Mississippi legal encyclopedia. Justin L. Matheny & Christopher R. Shaw, Personal Torts § 9, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MISSISSIPPI LAW (Jeffrey Jackson & Mary Miller eds., New Topic Serv.2003). Though the degree of certainty perhaps can be less in a civil proceeding and still constitute probable cause, what it is that the Defendants must be certain about still needs to be identified. The judicial proceedings that these Defendants initiated must begin with an affidavit that a person is in need of treatment due to her behavior: If any person shall be alleged to be in need of treatment, any relative of the person, or any interested person, may make affidavit of that fact.... The affidavit must contain factual descriptions of the proposed patient's recent behavior, including a description of the behavior, where it occurred, and over what period of time it occurred. Each factual allegation must be supported by observations of witnesses named in the affidavit. Affidavits shall be stated in behavioral terms and shall not contain judgmental or conclusory statements. Miss.Code Ann. § 41-21-65. The statute requires affiants to describe behavior and not to state conclusions. Merging the statute with the case law, we summarize that the Tebo brothers must have actually but also reasonably believed that Mrs. Tebo was in need of treatment. We now turn to the summary judgment evidence from both sides of the dispute. As to whether the Tebo brothers had an honest belief, we have the deposition testimony of Kenneth Tebo that he believed something wasn't right with his stepmother, and that his statements on the affidavit were truthful. Cary Tebo was also deposed and stated that the incidents referred to in the affidavit prepared for the commitment proceedings actually occurred, and that on the day before the affidavit was signed, he thought something was wrong with her. Cary Tebo would not say whether he believed Mrs. Tebo was mentally ill, but only that this wasn't the person we used to know. Mrs. Tebo challenges their evidence in part by saying that the brothers relied in their affidavit that began the proceedings on their father's knowledge rather than on their own knowledge. The brothers witnessed some of the events described, but Mrs. Tebo's staying awake and hitting the walls would have been seen and heard only by their father. However, the Mississippi statute does not require that the affidavit be based only on personal knowledge. It is only necessary for [e]ach factual allegation to be supported by observations of witnesses named in the affidavit. Miss. Code Ann. § 41-21-65. The clerk's form given to the Tebo brothers to use does not have any prompt in the instructions for noting names of other witnesses whose information may also be included in the affidavit. The Defendants' failure to record that some of the information came from their father is irrelevant on the question of probable cause. Because the state proceedings permit an affidavit to include information from others, the failure to note that some of the details were from their father is simply a technical error that does not undermine the honesty of their belief. In response, Mrs. Tebo claimed that the Tebo brothers contacted the authorities, communicated with Joan Sonnier, and signed the affidavit in an attempt to help their father take control of the land and property Mrs. Tebo had purchased and put in her and Thurman's name. She alleged that earlier in the month before the effort to have her committed, she had been hospitalized after becoming unconscious. She informed those treating her that she believed that her family had given her something to cause her to black out, and the reason was that the family was trying to have her committed and then take control of her property. She had no evidence other than her opinion about being drugged. Her deposition referred to evidence from years earlier when she felt pressured by her husband to deed some of the property to the brothers. Whether such evidence of potentially bad motives creates an inference relevant to probable cause is our question. An absence of probable cause can be a reason to infer the existence of malice. Nassar, 682 So.2d at 1046. The inference of malice fills a void left by proof that there was no legitimate basis for the proceedings. On the other hand, bad motives can exist simultaneously with a belief in probable cause. An inference of no belief in probable cause, once it is shown that probable cause legally existed, has no void to fill. There was no evidence that either of the Tebo brothers believed that the behavior they described did not constitute probable cause. Further, Sonnier's evaluation of Mrs. Tebo before the brothers went to chancery court satisfied the rule that if a reasonable person would investigate further before instigating a proceeding, the failure to do so is an absence of probable cause. Benjamin v. Hooper Elec. Supply Co., 568 So.2d 1182, 1191 (Miss.1990). If a party's opinion is the only evidence that there was no honest belief in probable cause, summary judgment is appropriate. See McClinton v. Delta Pride Catfish, Inc., 792 So.2d 968, 973 (Miss.2001). We find nothing else in the present case. With respect to the objective element of probable cause, Mrs. Tebo's admittedly erratic behavior eliminates a genuine issue of material fact as to whether there were no reasonable grounds for the statements in the affidavit and the belief that she was in need of treatment. Nassar, 682 So.2d at 1042. There was no dispute of material fact on the issue of probable cause. Summary judgment on the malicious prosecution claim is affirmed.