Thacker v. City of Hyattsville

ADKINS, Judge.

Like a chameleon, the common legal term “malice” must be examined in context. As the Court of Appeals recently observed in an analogous case involving qualified public official immunity, “[t]he word ‘malice’ has been a troublesome one in the law, because it has been used in many different contexts____” Shoemaker v. Smith, 353 Md. 143, 161, 725 A.2d 549 (1999). This wrongful arrest case is additional anecdotal affirmation of that troublesome nature.

We must resolve a series of “malice” related issues in this appeal from summary judgment in favor of appellees, who are eight…