Court Opinion

ID: 9700265
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 21:17:47.525262+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:06.077571
License: Public Domain

SALMON, Judge,
dissenting.
As I read the majority opinion, the Court holds that, in order for appellee to prove the tort of false imprisonment (Counts 1 and 2), he was obliged to show that the State and the Department of Corrections knew, or should have known, that he was being illegally detained after his sentence had *671expired. I do not believe that appellee had any such obligation. The Court of Appeals said in Ashton v. Brown, 339 Md. 70, 660 A.2d 447 (1995):
As with other intentional torts, the plaintiff seeking to establish false imprisonment need not prove that the defendant intended to act wrongfully; “the essence of the tort consists in depriving the plaintiff of his liberty without lawful justification, and the good or evil intention of the defendant does not excuse or create the tort.” Mahan v. Adam, 144 Md. 355, 365, 124 A. 901 (1924).
Id. at 121 n. 25, 660 A.2d 447. Here appellee proved that he was deprived of his liberty by the Department of Corrections without lawful justification. I would therefore affirm.