Ash v. Ash

The issue certified to this court is whether “a compromise between a defendant in a criminal proceeding and the prosecutor foreclose^] a later malicious prosecution claim against the complaining witness when the complaining witness was not a party to that compromise.” The answer to this query is “yes.”

This court previously has held that “[t]he elements of the tort of malicious criminal prosecution are (1) malice in instituting or continuing the prosecution, (2) lack of probable cause, and (3) termination of the prosecution in favor of the accused.” Trussell v. Gen. Motors Corp. (1990), 53…