Court Opinion

ID: 9557589
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 16:53:03.788469+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:02.873430
License: Public Domain

RENDELL, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I agree more with Judge Aldisert’s view as to the proper application of the malicious prosecution “test” in the multi-crime setting than with the majority’s, but must part company somewhat even with his view. Examining the five-prong test for malicious prosecution, I am struck by the language of the third, namely that the “proceeding was initiated without probable cause”. Because probable cause is different for each offense, the word “proceeding” must mean a prosecution for one offense, not the prosecution of multiple offenses.
And, “proceeding” as used in the third prong must inform what “proceeding” in the second prong means. The fact that the issue before us does not involve the probable cause prong, as such, is of no moment. The third prong nonetheless dictates that “proceeding” in the second prong requires a crime-by-crime analysis. Accordingly, a defendant successful as to one of several charged offenses should be permitted to challenge the charge for that one offense as malicious. If he can sustain all five prongs (which will perhaps be easier if the acquitted offense is the more egregious of the group, as is Judge Aldisert’s construct) he should succeed. I am mystified as to why we conclude that a defendant acquitted of a crime should be categorically foreclosed from challenging the prosecution of that crime as malicious merely because it was grouped with others, or arose from a common set of facts. That intent does not spring from the language of the “test”, nor does it square with common sense. Again, if the defendant can prove the five factors necessary to prove malicious prosecution as to one offense among many, should he not be able to maintain, and be victorious as to, that claim? I suggest the answer is “yes”.15
*200Therefore, I would reverse and remand for further proceedings.

. I see no reason to abandon our precedent in Johnson v. Knorr, 477 F.3d 75 (3d Cir. 2007). There we fully appreciated the need to analyze the charges separately when a malicious prosecution claim is brought, as distinct from a false arrest claim. In Johnson we stated:
Our result is not inconsistent with the principle that, in analyzing false arrest claims, a court to insulate a defendant from liability need find only that “[pjrobable cause ... exist[ed] as to any offense that could be charged under the circumstances.” Barna v. City of Perth Amboy, 42 F.3d at 819. Thus, we do not question the rule that there need not have been probable cause supporting charges for every offense for which an officer arrested a plaintiff for the arresting *200officer to defeat a claim of false arrest. See Wright, 409 F.3d at 602-04. The rationale of this rule is that "[t]he existence of probable cause [for one offense] ... justified] the arrest — and defeats [the plaintiff's] claim of false arrest — even if there was insufficient cause to arrest on the [second offense] alone.” Edwards v. City of Philadelphia, 860 F.2d 568, 576 (3d Cir.1988). However, a cause of action for malicious prosecution may be based on the prosecution of more than one charge, and the validity of the prosecution for each charge comes into question inasmuch as the plaintiff was subject to prosecution on each individual charge which, as we have noted, is likely to have placed an additional burden on the plaintiff.
Overall, we are satisfied that notwithstanding the rule when a plaintiff is pursuing false arrest charges, a defendant initiating criminal proceedings on multiple charges is not necessarily insulated in a malicious prosecution case merely because the prosecution of one of the charges was justified.
477 F.3d at 84-85.
The majority here seems to be proceeding under a "false arrest” theory, and ignoring persuasive precedent regarding claims for malicious prosecution.