Belt v. Ritter

The Case

Plaintiff is the owner and operator of a truck leasing business in Michigan, and defendants are enforcement officers for the Michigan Public Service Commission. In discharging their duty of enforcing the laws of the State of Michigan regulating the trucking industry, defendants came to believe that Marvin Belt was not running a regular leasing operation, but was actually hauling goods for hire under cover of his truck leasing arrangements. They accordingly caused the arrest and prosecution of plaintiff several times between October, 1961, and March, 1964, on the charge of hauling for…