Opinion ID: 1403244
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Punitive Damages Based on Malicious Prosecution

Text: In establishing his malicious prosecution claim, plaintiff here was required to prove that defendant (1) initiated the earlier proceeding, (2) with malice and (3) without probable cause, and (4) that the earlier proceeding terminated in his favor. Jones v. Gwynne, 312 N.C. 393, 397, 323 S.E.2d 9, 11 (1984) (quoting Stanback v. Stanback, 297 N.C. 181, 202, 254 S.E.2d 611, 625 (1979)). The jury found defendant liable for malicious prosecution of plaintiff andas the majority acknowledgesthe validity of that verdict stands. Thus it is uncontroverted that at least the greater weight of the evidence showed that defendant acted with malice. The majority appears to concede that plaintiff presented evidence of the aggravating factor of malice, but concludes that the evidence falls short of the clear and convincing standard required by N.C.G.S. § 1D-15. Again, however, whether evidence is clear and convincing is a matter for the trier of fact. The majority's efforts to rationalize and explain the actions of various persons and events illuminate the difficulty of reviewing a cold record and attempting to assess whether evidence is clear and convincing. For example, the majority characterizes McCluskey's threat to plaintiff to mess up his job at First Union if he did not reveal the names of the women who took the shoes even though McCluskey possessed the name of one of the women, whom he did not bother to investigateas somewhat intemperate and simply confronting plaintiff with the truth. This is indeed one possible inference from the evidence presented. An equally plausible view of the evidence presented is that McCluskey had no intention of conducting a genuine investigation of the incident, that instead, he personally disliked plaintiff and believed him to be an incompetent employee, and that he therefore seized upon plaintiff's mistake in order to terminate his employment with Dillard's and advance his termination at First Union. Such a view is imminently reasonable given the evidence of the pre-existing ill will McCluskey demonstrated towards plaintiff, plaintiff's lack of involvement in the theft, the interrogation-style interview McCluskey conducted, McCluskey's threat to mess up plaintiff's job at First Union, and the fact that no one at Dillard's appeared to be at all interested in locating the two women or recovering the merchandise. The jury may have also drawn conclusions from the fact that none of plaintiff's supervisors at Dillard'sGainsboro, Hicklin, or McCluskeytestified at trial. In Jones this Court held that the Court of Appeals erred in concluding that the plaintiff's evidence was insufficient to justify submission of the issue of punitive damages to the jury based on malicious prosecution when there was evidence from which a reasonable juror could conclude that defendant's investigation of the plaintiff was conducted with reckless and wanton disregard of the plaintiff's rights. 312 N.C. at 408-09, 323 S.E.2d at 18. In that case the evidence tended to show that the defendant conducted only a superficial and cursory investigation of the plaintiff employee before soliciting his prosecution for alleged embezzlement. Id; see also Williams v. Boylan-Pearce, Inc., 69 N.C.App. 315, 319-20, 317 S.E.2d 17, 20-21 (1984) (holding the trial court erred in failing to submit the issue of punitive damages to the jury when there was evidence from which the jury could find that the defendant maliciously prosecuted the plaintiff in a manner evincing a reckless and wanton disregard of her rights), aff'd per curiam, 313 N.C. 321, 327 S.E.2d 870 (1985). The majority contends Jones and Williams are factually distinguishable and therefore, inapplicable. Cases may always be distinguished on their facts, however. Whether cases may be meaningfully distinguished is the pertinent question. That the majority dedicates nearly half of its opinion to discussing the facts of the instant case and attempting to distinguish them from the facts of Jones and Williams speaks volumes.