Court Opinion

ID: 9753130
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 18:59:37.763932+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:30.674928
License: Public Domain

Jacobs, J.
(concurring). Our law looks with some disfavor upon actions in the nature of malicious prosecution and places upon the plaintiff the responsibility of proving not only lack of probable cause but also actual malice and special injury. See Mayflower Industries v. Thor Corp., 15 N. J. Super. 139, 151 (Ch. Div. 1951), affirmed 9 N. J. 605 (1952). But our law does not wholly prohibit such actions and the interests of justice do not suggest that it should. To the contrary, Dean Prosser, in his discussion of actions for the wrongful institution of civil proceedings, has pointed out that “there is no policy in favor of vexatious suits known to be groundless, which are a real and often a serious injury; and the heavy burden of proof upon the plaintiff, to establish both lack of probable cause and an improper purpose, should afford sufficient protection to the Iona fide litigant and adequate safeguard against a series of actions.” Prosser, Torts, 886 (1941).
The Monmouth County Ethics and Grievance Committee conducted extensive hearings during which the plaintiff and his counsel participated. The witnesses against the plaintiff, as well as the plaintiff and his witnesses, were examined and cross-examined fully and detailed factual findings, amply supported by the evidence, were made by the committee. It *288determined, without any dissenting voice, that the plaintiff was “guilty of unethical and unprofessional conduct.” Although this court ultimately dismissed the proceeding because it found that the plaintiff was acting as real estate broker rather than attorney, it at no time suggested disagreement with the committee’s findings relating to the morally offensive nature of his conduct. In the light of these particular circumstances it would grossly disserve the interests of justice to permit the plaintiff to relitigate the factual issues determined by the committee, for the purpose of establishing the essential elements, particularly the lack of probable cause, of an action in the nature of malicious prosecution. Probable cause for the institution of a civil suit has been defined as “the presence of reasonable ground for belief that the cause of action exists supported by circumstances sufficient to warrant an ordinarily prudent man in the belief that it exists.” Mayflower Industries v. Thor Corp., supra, 15 N. J. Super., at page 153. And the Restatement indicates that a judgment favorable to the person who initiated the original suit is generally conclusive of probable cause even though subsequently reversed on appeal. Restatement, Torts, § 675, comment (b), § 680, comment (b), (1938). Decisions lending support are found in Prosser, supra, at 878, where the author notes that a conviction after trial, even though it is subsequently reversed, obviously presents strong evidence and is usually held to be conclusive as to the existence of probable cause. See Note, Probable Cause in Actions for Malicious Prosecution, 3 Ark. L. Rev. 445, 449 (1949).
The majority’s affirmance of the lower court’s dismissal does not, however, rest on the ground that, under the very compelling circumstances presented, the plaintiff is in no just position to show lack of probable cause. Instead, it announces the far-reaching doctrine that ethics proceedings are absolutely privileged and that an attorney has no individual redress no matter how patently false and malicious is the charge against him or how grossly hurtful is the wrong committed against him. Fo supporting decisions are cited; indeed, the decisions which are cited all lend persuasive *289support to the contrary view. In Stein v. Schmitz, 21 N. J. Misc. 218 (Sup. Ct. 1943), affirmed 137 N. J. L. 725 (E. & A. 1948), Judge Wolber stated with manifest fairness that “the attorney is protected, like any other person, against a wrong, predicated upon actual malice”; that persons engaged in other professions or occupations would justly receive protection against malicious proceedings seems to be unchallenged.
In Saum v. Proudfit, 122 N. J. L. 96 (Sup. Ct. 1939), the former Supreme Court seemingly recognized that an action in the nature of malicious prosecution could be rested upon a false complaint filed against a real estate broker with the Real Estate Commission; it found, however, that there was no showing of special injury. Similar recognition is found in Melvin v. Pence, 76 U. S. App. D. C. 154, 130 F. 2d 423, 143 A. L. R. 149 (Ct. App. D. C. 1942), where Justice Rutledge dealt with an action in the nature of malicious prosecution based on a proceeding instituted against a licensed detective before the licensing authorities of the District of Columbia, and in National Surety Co. v. Page, 58 F. 2d 145, 148 (4 Cir., 1932) where the court dealt with an action based on a proceeding to revoke the license of an insurance agent. In the Page case Circuit Judge Parker pointed out that such a proceeding against an insurance agent is calculated to injure his reputation and affect his business; that it should be instituted not for the benefit of an individual but for the protection of the public; and that if it is instituted maliciously and without probable cause there is “no reason why the party injured thereby should not have redress in an action in damages just as he would in the case of a groundless criminal prosecution.” See also Prosser, supra, at 887; 143 A. L. R. 157 (1943); 6 U. Det. L. J. 101 (1943); 41 Mich. L. Rev. 549 (1942).
In his treatment of the English authorities Sir John Salmond states that actions for malicious prosecution or in the nature thereof may be maintained not only on the basis of wrongful criminal proceedings but also on the basis of unwarranted bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings or cer*290tain other civil proceedings involving special grievance. He raises the specific question as to whether an action in the nature of malicious prosecution may be maintained “at the suit of a solicitor whom the defendant has maliciously endeavored to have struck off the roll”; and he makes the pertinent observation that “If malicious proceedings in bankruptcy are, as we have seen, a good cause of action, there seems to be no reason why a similar conclusion should not be drawn with respect to the proceedings mentioned.” Salmond, Torts (11th ed. 1953), 739.
Attorneys-at-law have aptly been described as professional men who follow a common calling in a spirit of public service and nonetheless so because they thereby earn their livelihood. Throughout our country’s history they have been in the forefront in promoting the public welfare and much is owed them for their ever continuing leadership in defense of democratic institutions. They play a vital part in our judicial system which displays such high solicitude for civil liberties and individual rights and, while they are periodically subject as a class to false attacks, they readily withstand them by adherence to their dedicated task of furthering the interests of justice. But when these attacks become irresponsibly malicious and individualized they wrongfully place in jeopardy the reputation and very livelihood of the particular practitioner involved; and while the individual attorney is entitled to no greater judicial protection under these circumstances than the law affords to those who follow other professions and occupations, he is, in all justice, entitled to no less. The contrary holding, that those who devote so much of their lives towards attaining equal protection under law for others should be denied it for themselves, seems ironic indeed.
The notion that the granting of protection to the individual attorney might impair the public interest by discouraging disclosures of misconduct, seems to have little substance. It must be remembered that the action in the nature of malicious prosecution would be maintainable only upon an affirmative showing that the ethics complaint was *291actually malicious, lacked probable cause and resulted in special injury; it would not be maintainable where the complaining party, though mistaken, acted with that elemental honesty of purpose and belief which may rightly be expected of all complainants. It is difficult to believe that recognition of the action as thus limited would discourage any ethics complaints which ought justly be made. See Winfield, Torts (6th ed. 1954), 747, where Sir Percy Winfield soundly pointed out that the action for malicious prosecution developed gradually, for it had to make its way between two competing principles — the freedom of action that every man should have in bringing violators to justice and the necessity for checking “lying accusations of innocent people”; that for some time judges “oscillated between apprehension of scaring off a just accuser and fear of encouraging a false one”; but that the action was long ago put on a firm basis and “is so much hedged about with restrictions and the burden of proof upon the plaintiff is so heavy that no honest prosecutor is ever likely to be deterred by it from doing his duty.”
While I would affirm the lower court’s judgment of dismissal, I would do so on the ground that in the instant matter the plaintiff is in no just position to show lack of probable cause for the ethics proceeding.