Court Opinion

ID: 9578201
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:42:46.551507+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:14.150762
License: Public Domain

Candler, Justice,
dissenting. In accordance with the wishes of the court, the foregoing opinion was prepared in conformance with the majority view. What is said in division 6 does not, however, represent my own view. The injury complained of and the consequent damage, according to the allegations of the amended petition, resulted from a tortious act committed wilfully, maliciously, and without probable cause. And, as against a general demurrer, each count of the amended petition alleges damages which may be recovered in a suit for the malicious use of a civil proceeding. In this connection see Wilson v. Sullivan, 81 Ga. 238 (7 S. E. 274), and Woodley v. Coker, 119 Ga. 226 (46 S. E. 89). Whether a plaintiff has been prosecuted by indictment or by civil proceedings, the principle of awarding damages is the same. Newell on Malicious Prosecution (Damages) 491, § 1. The essential elements of the two actions are the same. Woodley v. Coker, supra. “With respect to the damages recoverable, the general rules of damages applicable to all cases of tort are applicable in actions for malicious prosecution. The same principles are applicable and the same rules'govern whether the suit is for the wrongful institution of a civil action or a criminal prosecution.” 34 Am. Jur. 760, § 32. See, to the same effect, Sledge v. McLaren, 29 Ga. 64; Wilcox v. McKenzie, 75 Ga. 73; Porter v. Johnson, supra; Georgia Loan & Trust Co. v. Johnston, 116 Ga. 623 (43 S. E. 27); Woodley v. Coker, supra. Our Code, § 105-801, declares: “A criminal prosecution, maliciously carried on, and without any probable cause, whereby damage ensues to the person prosecuted, shall give him a cause of action.” The plaintiff in an action for malicious prosecution *111is not confined in his recovery to the actual loss in dollars and cents he has suffered, whether in the nature of money paid out or gains prevented. He may also recover for non-pecuniary losses he sustains, and these are often the chief items of his recovery. 18 R. C. L. § 75. General damages are such as the law presumes to flow from any tortious act. Code, § 105-2006. But “To authorize the imposition of punitive or exemplary damages there must be evidence of wilful misconduct, malice, fraud, wantonness, or oppression, or that entire want of care which would raise the presumption of a conscious indifference to consequences.” Southern Railway Co. v. O’Bryan, 119 Ga. 147, 148 (45 S. E. 1000); Investment Securities Corp. v. Cole, 186 Ga. 809, 810 (199 S. E. 126), and cit.; Code, § 105-2002. And, in suits for malicious prosecutions, the Code, § 105-808, provides that “The recovery shall not be confined to the actual damage sustained by the accused but shall be regulated by the circumstances of each case.” As a general rule, punitive or exemplary damages are recoverable in all actions for damages based upon tortious acts, which involve ingredients of malice, fraud or insult, or wanton and reckless disregard for the plaintiff’s rights. 15 Am. Jur. 710, § 274. “In England, before the statute of 52 Hen. III., 1277, it was the practice constantly to hold that, where one sued another maliciously and without probable cause, he was liable to such person in damages upon an action on the case, but since the passage of that statute, which gives costs to the defendant yer jalsum clamorem, the bringing of a civil suit maliciously and without probable cause was not a ground upon which an action could be maintained. Yet there was this distinction: when an action was sued out maliciously and without probable cause, whereby the person of the defendant was arrested, or his property attached, or any special grievance to defendant, then in such a case the action would lie, and, as we understand, that was the common law when this State was a province, and when our adopting statute was passed in 1784, and would have been the law without this statute.” Mitchell v. Southwestern Railroad, 75 Ga. 398. But whatever may have been the rule at common law, our Code expressly and emphatically declares that a criminal prosecution, maliciously carried on without probable cause, whereby damage ensues to the person prosecuted, shall *112give him a cause of action; and it is well settled by the authorities cited above that the same rule applies to suits for the malicious use of a civil proceeding without probable cause. In Wilson v. Sullivan, supra, this court said: “The remedy for one who has been harassed by a malicious and groundless suit, where there is any remedy, is not an action for defamation, but for bringing and prosecuting the suit maliciously and without probable cause.” In this case, each count of the petition alleges that general and punitive damages, amounting to $200,000, ensued to the plaintiff in consequence of the act complained of, and there is a prayer for the recovery of the same. To this there was no special demurrer, and, as against a general demurrer, the averment is sufficient to show ensuing damage. Under a petition alleging a tort and praying for general damages, the plaintiff may recover all actual damages proven; and, if the injury be slight and no actual damage is shown, he may, nevertheless, recover nominal damages. Hall v. Browning, 195 Ga. 423 (24 S. E. 2d, 392); Glenn v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 1 Ga. App. 821 (58 S. E. 83). And in Woodley v. Coker, supra, it was held that “Punitive damages may be recovered in any action sounding in tort where the tortious acts were wantonly or maliciously committed.” As against a general demurrer, each count of the petition in this case alleged recoverable damages.
I am authorized to state that Justices Wyatt and Head concur in this dissent.