Court Opinion

ID: 9852610
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:33:37.918166+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:30.667595
License: Public Domain

WUEST, Acting Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I agree with the majority on Issues I and III. In my opinion, however, the trial court erred in admitting evidence of failure to report a subsequent incident of suspected employee theft, which occurred after the incident in litigation. Further, it is my opinion the trial court improperly instructed the jury and should have granted judgment n.o.v.
At trial, plaintiff introduced evidence that Pat DeVaney had worked for the appellant and was suspected of theft two years after the incident involving the plaintiff. This was never reported to the authorities. Relevance rests largely in the trial court’s discretion and does not constitute grounds for a new trial or reversal unless abuse is clearly demonstrated. (See majority opinion.) However, I believe this unreported suspected theft which occurred two years after the incident in litigation was not relevant to any issue in the case at bar, and its admission was an abuse of discretion.
The appellant offered at trial the following jury instruction:
If the defendants have done no more than giving what they believed to be full and correct information to the police, and the police without further interference on their part, except giving such honest assistance as the police may require, continue the prosecution, defendants are not liable to plaintiff as a result of said prosecution. (Defendant’s Requested Jury Instructions, Instruction No. 10.)
This instruction was refused and the court gave Instruction No. 20, which provided:
If the defendants have done no more than giving what they believed to be full and correct information to the police, and the police without further interference on their part, except giving such honest assistance as the police might require, continue the prosecution, such evidence can be considered by you in deciding whether or not the defendants acted with malice. (Emphasis supplied.)
Appellant urges error:
In my opinion, neither instruction was correct under the evidence of this case. The evidence shows the authorities made the decision to bring charges against appel-lee, not Continental, as will be hereafter addressed regarding the motion for judgment n.o.v. Both instructions address continuation of the prosecution by Continental, which is contrary to the evidence.
Finally, I believe the court should have granted judgment n.o.v. Continental personnel reported the cash discrepancy to the police on August 26,1980. After the initial report of August 26, 1980, no one on behalf of Continental contacted either the police department or the state’s attorney’s office to urge or encourage further investigation or prosecution of Sabag. The investigating officer, Sergeant LeRoy Downs, testified that no one from Continental tried to direct his investigation. He stated that Continental simply made a factual report, “leaving it to the Sioux Falls Police Department to conduct such further investigation as it professionally deemed necessary.” He further testified that the Continental person*357nel told him Sabag claimed to have left the cash on Pat DeVaney’s desk. Officer Downs also stated he made an independent determination to turn the matter over to the state’s attorney’s office for prosecution. In my opinion, Continental did the same as any other victim of a crime should do. See SDCL 22-11-12. They reported a felony to law enforcement officials for investigation. Law enforcement made the decision to prosecute.
The elements necessary to sustain an action for malicious prosecution are: (1) the commencement or continuance of an original criminal or civil judicial proceeding; (2) its legal causation by the present defendant against plaintiff, who was defendant in the original proceeding; (3) its bona fide termination in favor of the present plaintiff; (4) the absence of probable cause for such proceeding; (5) the presence of malice; and (6) damages conforming to legal standards resulting to plaintiff. Weber v. Western Bank, 336 N.W.2d 652 (S.D.1983); Kunz v. Johnson, 74 S.D. 577, 57 N.W.2d 116 (1953). We said in Weber:
“If an informer merely states to a peace officer his knowledge of a supposed offense and the officer makes the arrest entirely upon his own judgment and discretion, the informer is not liable.”
336 N.W.2d at 653, quoting Johnson v. First National Bank & Trust Co., 207 Neb. 521, 300 N.W.2d 10 (1980) and Jensen v. Barnett, 178 Neb. 429, 134 N.W.2d 53 (1965).
The evidence in this case does not establish the presence of malice nor the commencement of the criminal proceeding by Continental against Sabag. The facts in this case are analogous to those in Weber and the trial court should have granted judgment n.o.v.