Court Opinion

ID: 9571953
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:36:44.656932+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:31:14.696904
License: Public Domain

*557Judge ORR
concurring in the result only.
I am compelled by the referenced precedent in this case to concur in the result affirming the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion .for a directed verdict on the issue of malicious prosecution. As I understand the cited authority, a malicious prosecution case is jury bound by introduction of evidence that an unexplained dismissal was taken in a criminal prosecution. The dismissal operates as a “favorable termination” of the action for a plaintiff. Jones v. Gwynne, 312 N.C. 393, 323 S.E.2d 9 (1984). “Lack of probable cause” is prima facie established thereafter by the voluntary dismissal without explanation. Pitts v. Village Inn Pizza, Inc., 296 N.C. 81, 249 S.E.2d 375 (1978). Next, “malice” may be inferred from proof that the defendant lacked probable cause in initiating the proceedings. Pitts, supra.
Therefore, such a “bootstrap” process means that every dismissal of a criminal action without explanation opens the door to a malicious prosecution case and gets the case to the jury on the mere fact that a dismissal without explanation has taken place. That appears to be the law as it now stands, but the implication of such a standard in light of our overcrowded criminal dockets should prompt a reconsideration of this question.