Kerr v. Martin

7 Haw. 645
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 15, 1889
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 7 Haw. 645 (Kerr v. Martin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kerr v. Martin, 7 Haw. 645 (haw 1889).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court, by

Preston, J.

The defendant in error sued the plaintiff in error in this Court in an action designated “Trespass.” The first count in the petition was for the malicious prosecution and arrest of the defendant in error without probable cause, on a charge of embezzlement of certain pieces of cloth and satin, the property of the plaintiff in error, and claimed $5000 as damages. A second count was for maliciously and without probable cause obtaining a search warrant to search the defendant’s (in error) house for the same goods, and alleged that in pursuance of the command in said last-mentioned warrant certain police officers went, accompanied by the defendant (the plaintiff in error), to the residence of the then plaintiff, and then and there, with the aid and at the instigation and procurement of said then defendant, to the wrong, injury, insult and inconvenience of said then plaintiff, [646]*646and to the insult, humiliation and terror of his wife and family, instituted and conducted a precise and thorough search of the then plaintiff’s said residence and overhauling and displacement of the furniture and other articles therein, and that during the progress of said search said officers and said then defendant found certain articles therein, to wit, one piece of camel hair or worsted suiting, the property of said then plaintiff, which said then defendant then and there falsely claimed to be the property of him, said defendant, and to have been feloniously stolen and embezzled by the then plaintiff from said then defendant, and at the request and instigation of said defendant said police officers then add there, against the will and right of said then plaintiff, took said specified articles into their custody and possession, and then and there arrested and took said then plaintiff into custody, and conveyed plaintiff and said goods to the Honolulu Police Station; that plaintiff secured his release by giving bail, and at the hearing the charge was withdrawn and plaintiff discharged from custody. And the plaintiff averred that by reason of the facts therein-before in that count recited, he was grossly injured in his right of personal liberty, and that the rightful sanctity of his dwelling was ruthlessly invaded and violated; that he and his said wife and family were exposed to and suffered great distress and terror and the most humiliating insult, and that the then plaintiff suffered assault and imprisonment; that he was greatly scandalized in his business and social relations, and was obliged to incur great inconvenience, expense, etc., and plaintiff claimed $5000 as damages.

The case was tried before McCully, J., and a jury at the last October Term, when the plaintiff had a general verdict for $1500, upon which judgment was entered on the eighteenth day of October.

On the 30th January, during the term, the defendant moved the Court that judgment be arrested on grounds which were afterwards -assigned as error.

This motion was refused.

Mr. Hartwell, for the plaintiff in error, argued that: The second count sets forth a cause of action on the case in that portion where it is alleged that, “in pursuance of the command in * * * the warrant,” the officers did the injuries complained of, “If the injury were committed through the medium of and under regular process, as in the case of a malícious arrest or prosecution, although such injury were forcible and' immediate, yet the remedy must be Case;” 1 Oh. PI. 145, 16th Am. Ed.; and also where it avers, “insult, humiliation and terror of his wife,” and, “ that he * * * suffered great distress and terror and the most humiliating insult * * * and that he was greatly scandalized in his business and social relations.” “ With respect to injuries * * * to reputation and health, etc., * * * as the property injured cannot be affected immediately by any substance, the injuries thereto, however malevolent and however contrived, cannot be considered as committed with force.” lb., 141.

[647]*647The plaintiff in error thereafter applied to Mr. Justice McCuJly for and obtained a writ of error and assigned errors as follows:

“ Whereas an action of trespass was entered by the said J. S. Martin, as plaintiff, against the said L. B. Kerr, as defendant, in the Supreme Court at the last October Term thereof, and said action came on to be tried at said term before a jury, and a verdict was returned for the plaintiff for fifteen hundred dollars damages, and judgment has been entered against the defendant within six months now last past, to wit, on the eighteenth day of October, A. D. 1888, for the sum of fifteen hundred dollars and one hundred and sixty-two and 50-100 dollars costs, and execution thereon is wholly unsatisfied. The said L. B. Kerr deeming himself aggrieved by said verdict and judgment, gives his reasons for deeming himself so aggrieved, assigning the cause of error in said verdict and judgment as follows : 1. That the plaintiff’s complaint, in the second count thereof, erroneously joins a cause of action in trespass with a cause of action in case. 2. That the plaintiff’s complaint erroneously contains two counts for wrongs alleged to have been committed by the same act. 3. That the plaintiff’s complaint sets forth two causes of action for one and the same alleged trespass. 4. That the jury by their verdict in said cause found entire damages on both counts, and not distinct damages in respect of each or either count, so that it is impossible to say whether the verdict was based wholly or in part on said second count.
“The said applicant also assigns the following cause of error in said cause, namely, that the motion in arrest of judgment for the causes above assigned was denied by Mr. Justice Bickerton presiding at the last January Term of said Court.”
It also sets forth a cause of action in trespass in that portion where it is averred that the officers “accompanied by said defendant * * * with the aid and at the instigation and by the procurement of said defendant * * * instituted and conducted a * * * search of plaintiffs residence * * * and at the request and instigation of said defendant * * * took ” certain goods, etc., and, arrested and took this plaintiff into custody,” etc. “ A tort which one directs or advises another to commit, he is always responsible for, jointly with the guilty agent, and his liability does not depend upon the subordination of the agent, but upon the direct connection of the adviser with the wrong.” Cooley on Torts, p. 534. The acts of the officers being alleged in this portion of the count to have been done at the instigation, etc , of defendant and not under color of process, were direct, and therefore the cause set out is trespass. Nor can it be said that the “request, investigation, etc-, of defendant” was without effect, and that the averment of it is surplusage, on the ground that the officers would have done the injuries complained of at all events under the warrant. For the officers are alleged to have been acting under a search warrant, so far as acting under a warrant at all, and nothing is said in this count of a warrant of arrest, and therefore the officer had, so far as this count shows, no legal authority to make the arrest, assault or imprisonment averred in it. “ Trespass cannot be joined with Case.” Ib., 224; Arch. Civ. PL, 160.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Moon.
524 P.3d 1219 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2023)
De Arruda v. Morton
17 Haw. 126 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1905)
Kahului Railroad v. Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.
11 Haw. 739 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1899)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
7 Haw. 645, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kerr-v-martin-haw-1889.