Mitchell v. George

474 S.W.2d 131, 63 Tenn. App. 408, 1971 Tenn. App. LEXIS 228
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedJuly 30, 1971
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 474 S.W.2d 131 (Mitchell v. George) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mitchell v. George, 474 S.W.2d 131, 63 Tenn. App. 408, 1971 Tenn. App. LEXIS 228 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

OPINION

PURYEAR, Judge.

This is an appeal in error by the defendant, Howard George, from a jury verdict in favor of plaintiff, Henry Mitchell, for damages for malicious prosecution. The present suit grows out of a Criminal Court proceeding wherein plaintiff was acquitted in the Criminal Court of Davidson County, Tennessee, upon a charge of assault with intent to commit murder.

During the pendency of the criminal proceeding plaintiff spent sixty-two days in the County Jail awaiting trial.

The plaintiff and defendant first became acquainted with each other in the year 1961, at which time defendant was operating a warehouse in Nashville, Tennessee, and the plaintiff was serving a sentence for murder in the State Prison at Nashville. At some time in the year 1961 a State Parole Officer requested defendant [132]*132to interview plaintiff at the State Prison for the purpose of determining whether or not he would provide plaintiff with employment in the event the Parole Board saw fit to parole him.

As a result of this interview, plaintiff was placed on parole and’employed by defendant to work at defendant’s warehouse in Nashville and this relationship of employee and employer continued until the 13th day of July, 1966, at which time plaintiff became involved in an altercation at defendant’s warehouse as a result of which plaintiff was arrested and charged with the offense of assault with the intent to commit murder of which charge he was later acquitted at some time in September, 1966.

On January 27, 1969, plaintiff filed the instant suit against defendant for $25,000.00 damages for malicious prosecution.

To the declaration the following plea was filed by the defendant:

“Defendant, Howard George, for plea to the declaration filed against him, says:
That he acted upon the advice and the instructions of the then District Attorney General, the Honorable Harry G. Nichol, in the procurement of said warrant against the Plaintiff; that the same was done with probable cause and he is not guilty of the matters and things alleged in the plaintiff’s declaration.”

(Tech. Rec. p. 5)

On the 4th and 5th days of November, 1970, this case was tried in Circuit Court and at the conclusion of all evidence in the case, defendant moved the Court for a directed verdict, which was overruled, and the case submitted to the jury. The jury found the issues in favor of plaintiff and awarded him damages in the sum of $2,200.00. Defendant filed a motion for new trial, which was overruled, and this appeal in error resulted.

Defendant has filed six assignments of error, the third and fourth of which raise interrelated questions, so we will consider them together. These two assignments are as follows:

III
“The proof showing that the plaintiff-in-error acted upon the advice, directions and instructions of the Attorney General in the issuance of the State’s warrant, after all material facts relating to the case, ascertainable by the exercise of due diligence, had been adduced by the Attorney General in the presence of plaintiff-in-error; and the plaintiff-in-error having acted upon such advice honestly sought, and after such directions and instructions, is entitled, as a matter of law, to immunity from damages as for malicious prosecution; and the Court should have directed a verdict for plaintiff-in-error upon said grounds.
IV
(a) There is no evidence to sustain the verdict of the jury.
(b) The law and evidence preponderate against the verdict of the jury and in favor of plaintiff-in-error.”

We cannot consider subdivision (b) of the fourth assignment because it has been held that an assignment to the effect that a verdict is contrary to the evidence cannot be considered in a case where there is a jury verdict approved by the trial Judge. McBee v. Williams (1966), 56 Tenn.App. 232, 405 S.W.2d 668; John L. Burns, Inc. v. Matheney (1964), 53 Tenn.App. 475, 384 S.W.2d 51; Lyman v. American National Bank & Trust Co. (1961), 48 Tenn.App. 328, 346 S.W.2d 289.

In considering the third assignment and subdivision (a) of the fourth assignment, we are bound by the rule which requires this Court to look to all of the evidence, to take the strongest legitimate view of it in favor of the plaintiff, to allow all reasonable inferences from it in his favor; to discard all countervailing evidence, and if [133]*133then, there is any dispute as to any material determinative evidence, or any doubt as to the conclusion to be drawn from the whole evidence such assignments must be overruled.

However, we are also bound by the rule that if there is no material and determinative evidence to support the jury verdict for plaintiff, then these two assignments must be sustained. Cude v. Culberson (1947), 30 Tenn.App. 628, 209 S.W.2d 506; Camurati v. Sutton (1960), 48 Tenn.App. 54, 342 S.W.2d 732; Nicholas v. Provident Life & Acc. Ins. Co. (1970), Tenn.App., 457 S.W.2d 536.

The uncontroverted evidence shows that when the altercation between plaintiff and Norris occurred, the defendant was at home and was notified of the occurrence of such altercation by his son, who was at defendant’s place of business.

Immediately after being so notified by his son, the defendant contacted George H. Curry, an investigator for the District Attorney General for Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County, and requested Curry to meet him at the warehouse.

After defendant and Curry arrived at the warehouse Curry questioned some witnesses and then took possession of a knife which was owned by the plaintiff.

The uncontroverted evidence also shows that before obtaining a warrant for the arrest of plaintiff, Mitchell, the defendant and Curry went to the office of the District Attorney General, who at that time was Honorable Harry G. Nichol, taking with them two eye witnesses, namely, Rufus Norris and Fred Gates, and while the plaintiff was detained at some other place in the Metropolitan Courthouse, the defendant, together with Norris, Gates and Curry, went into the office of the District Attorney General where Norris and Gates related to the Attorney General what they had seen and heard.

The defendant testified as follows:

“Q. Mr. Curry was conducting the investigation ?

A. That’s correct.

Q. And he did conduct it ?

A. That’s right.
Q. Now, where did you all go, Mr. George ?

A. Mr. Curry took us in his automobile down to Mr. Nichol’s office, who happened to be District Attorney.

Q. Did you go to his office ?

A. Yes, we did. And Mr.

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

Related

Ronnie Gordon v. Tractor Supply Company
Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2016
Sam Spicer v. Stace Thompson
Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 2004
Sullivan v. Young
678 S.W.2d 906 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1984)
Wykle v. Valley Fidelity Bank & Trust Co.
658 S.W.2d 96 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1983)
Kerney v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.
648 S.W.2d 247 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
474 S.W.2d 131, 63 Tenn. App. 408, 1971 Tenn. App. LEXIS 228, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mitchell-v-george-tennctapp-1971.