Webb v. Roadway Express Inc.

47 Pa. D. & C.4th 491, 2000 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 186
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Monroe County
DecidedJuly 26, 2000
Docketno. 1084 Civil 1997
StatusPublished

This text of 47 Pa. D. & C.4th 491 (Webb v. Roadway Express Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Monroe County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Webb v. Roadway Express Inc., 47 Pa. D. & C.4th 491, 2000 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 186 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2000).

Opinion

WALLACH MILLER, J.,

Presently before the court are two motions for summary judgment that have been filed: one collectively by Roadway Express, Mark Slavin and Thomas Smedley, Roadway defendants, and one collectively by East Coast Janitorial and Carrie Miller, East Coast defendants. Both motions arise in the context of plaintiff’s suit for malicious prosecution, and a review of the record reveals the following facts and procedural history.

Plaintiff was employed by East Coast Janitorial to perform janitorial duties as a dock worker at a facility owned and operated by Roadway Express. At all relevant times, Mark Slavin and Thomas Smedley were managers at the Roadway facility, and Carrie Miller was plaintiff’s supervisor at East Coast Janitorial. At approximately 7 a.m. on June 29, 1996, Slavin found plaintiff [493]*493using a telephone in Miller’s office at the Roadway facility, and he noticed a deflated air bag lying on the floor within a few feet of plaintiff. An air bag is an inflated device that is approximately three feet long and is used by transportation companies to secure packages against movement. When the air bags become punctured or ripped, they are discarded from the Roadway Express trucks to be picked up and disposed of by dock workers such as plaintiff. The dock workers often use the bags as impromptu trash bags, filling them with debris from the docking area before placing the bags in the appropriate waste disposal container. Plaintiff claims that he was using the bag to collect debris when he remembered that he needed to make a telephone call, so he brought the bag into the office to use the telephone on Miller’s desk.

When Slavin saw the air bag next to plaintiff, he also saw something inside of the bag and upon removing the object Slavin discovered that the item was a parcel of dresses that was being transported by Roadway Express. Slavin held up the parcel and asked plaintiff: “What is this?” Plaintiff responded: “That’s not mine.” Slavin brought the air bag, the parcel of dresses, and plaintiff to the office of the manager for the Roadway Express facility, where Slavin informed Smedley about what Slavin had observed, and accused plaintiff of attempting to steal the dresses. Slavin called the police to report the incident, and a little while later Pocono Township police officer Horace Storm arrived at the Roadway Express facility to perform an investigation. Officer Storm took statements from Slavin and Smedley, and later spoke to Miller by telephone. Slavin, Smedley, and Miller all accused plaintiff of stealing the dresses, whereupon Of[494]*494ficer Storm informed plaintiff that charges of theft would be filed against plaintiff. Plaintiff was subsequently ordered to remain off of the Roadway Express property, and he was immediately terminated from his employment with East Coast Janitorial.

Miller provided a notarized statement to Officer Storm on July 2, 1996, which asserted that plaintiff had been involved in a theft situation at the Roadway Express facility on the day in question, and that one of the other East Coast Janitorial employees had observed plaintiff breaking into Miller’s office that day approximately one half hour before Slavin found plaintiff in Miller’s office with the air bag. On July 2, 1996, Officer Storm filed criminal charges against plaintiff for theft and receiving stolen property. On July 18, 1996, another person employed by East Coast Janitorial as a dock worker at the Roadway Express facility, one James Finnegan, gave a notarized statement concerning plaintiff’s actions. Finnegan’s statement asserts that at 6:45 a.m. on June 26,1996, he observed plaintiff standing on top of a barrel outside Miller’s office and that plaintiff used the barrel to break into Miller’s office by climbing over the wall. Finnegan’s statement relates that plaintiff next unlocked the office’s door from the inside, and that plaintiff was covered in ink when plaintiff walked through the office door. On the strength of the statements from Miller and Finnegan, on July 26, 1996, Officer Storm filed another criminal charge against plaintiff for criminal trespass.

Following a preliminary hearing before a district justice, all of the charges against plaintiff were bound over to the court of common pleas, where plaintiff pled not guilty to each of the charges. During plaintiff’s criminal [495]*495trial, at the close of the Commonwealth’s evidence, the trial court denied plaintiff’s motion for acquittal. As part of the plaintiff’s defense evidence, Finnegan took the stand on behalf of plaintiff and recanted the facts alleged in his notarized statement of July 18, 1996. Finnegan further testified that he did not observe the conduct alleged, and that Miller had falsely prepared the statement for him. Finnegan further testified that Miller had coerced him into signing the false statement by threatening to fire Finnegan if he did not sign the statement, and by promising him the reward of a better paying job with Roadway Express if he did sign the statement. The jury acquitted plaintiff of all criminal charges stemming from the June 26, 1996 incident.

On February 19,1997, plaintiff commenced the instant civil action, alleging claims for defamation, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, wrongful discharge, and civil conspiracy against the Roadway defendants and the East Coast defendants. Following defendants’ preliminary objections, plaintiff filed an amended complaint. Defendants again filed preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer, and on November 27,1997, this court sustained the objections and dismissed plaintiff’s case with prejudice.

Plaintiff appealed the November 27, 1997 order, and the Superior Court affirmed this court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s counts for defamation, false imprisonment, wrongful discharge, and civil conspiracy, but reversed the dismissal of the malicious prosecution count, holding that plaintiff’s pleadings were sufficient at that stage to defeat defendants’ demurrer. The Superior Court noted that this court’s dismissal of the malicious prosecution [496]*496count was premised on a determination that the defendants did not institute the criminal proceedings against plaintiff, but rather merely reported the incident to Officer Storm. Citing Hess v. County of Lancaster, 100 Pa. Commw. 316, 514 A.2d 681 (1986), the Superior Court distinguished between a situation where a person gives accusatory information that he honestly believes to be correct, from that where a person gives information to the authorities that he knows to be false. The Superior Court held that when a person knowingly gives false accusatory information to the police, that person is deemed to have initiated the proceedings against the accused, because even if the accuser takes no further action, the police officer’s ability to intelligently and independently exercise discretion is made impossible. The Superior Court pointed to the pleadings in plaintiff’s amended complaint averring that Slavin, Smedley, and Miller knew that the statements to Officer Storm were false, and the court held that the pleadings were sufficient to overcome defendants’ demurrer that they did not institute the criminal proceedings against plaintiff.

Following the Superior Court’s remand, the parties engaged in discovery including the sworn depositions of plaintiff and Finnegan.

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

Related

Hunger v. Grand Central Sanitation
670 A.2d 173 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1996)
Drapeau v. Joy Technologies, Inc.
670 A.2d 165 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1996)
Wecht v. PG Publishing Co.
725 A.2d 788 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
Amicone v. Shoaf
620 A.2d 1222 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1993)
Hayward v. Medical Center
608 A.2d 1040 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)
Jaindl v. Mohr
637 A.2d 1353 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1994)
Wheeler v. Johns-Manville Corp.
493 A.2d 120 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1985)
Shelton v. Evans
437 A.2d 18 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1981)
Spirer v. Freeland & Kronz
643 A.2d 673 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1994)
Hess v. COUNTY OF LANCASTER
514 A.2d 681 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1986)
Cosmas v. Bloomingdales Bros., Inc.
660 A.2d 83 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1995)
Butler v. Flo-Ron Vending Co.
557 A.2d 730 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)
Scopel v. Donegal Mutual Insurance
698 A.2d 602 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1997)
Strickland v. University of Scranton
700 A.2d 979 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1997)
Hugee v. Pennsylvania Railroad
101 A.2d 740 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1954)
Irrera v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
331 A.2d 705 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)
Cibrone v. Stover
505 A.2d 625 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
47 Pa. D. & C.4th 491, 2000 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/webb-v-roadway-express-inc-pactcomplmonroe-2000.