Jordan v. Ala. Great So. R. R.
Supreme Court of Alabama
Appeal from the Circuit Court of St. Clair. Tried before the Hon. L. F. Box. This was an action by the appellant, Jule L. Jordan, against the appellee, the Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company, for an alleged malicious prosecution of the former by the latter, and is now before this court the second time.
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Appeal from the Circuit Court of St. Clair. Tried before the Hon. L. F. Box. This was an action by the appellant, Jule L. Jordan, against the appellee, the Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company, for an alleged malicious prosecution of the former by the latter, and is now before this court the second time. See 74 Ala. 85. The defendant pleaded: 1. Not guilty. 2. That defendant had probable cause for believing and did believe that plaintiff was guilty of the charge preferred against him by defendant as averred in plaintiff’s complaint. 3. That defendant acted under an honest belief that…
1Opinion of the CourtStone, C. J.
— To maintain an action for a malicious prosecution, the prosecution must have been instituted, or instigated with malice, and without probable cause for believing the person prosecuted to be guilty. Both the malicious motive and the absence of probable cause must co-exist, to constitute a cause of action, and the birrden of proving each of these essential elements rests on the plaintiff, in the first instance. Malice itself is harmless, unless it is supplemented with the want of probable cause, but malice may sometimes be inferred from the want of probable cause. The latter, however, can not…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- McLeod v. McLeodSupreme Court of Alabama · 1882
- Steed v. KnowlesSupreme Court of Alabama · 1885
3Cited by35 opinions
- Barbara A. Nesmith and Richard A. Nesmith v. H. D. AlfordCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 1963
- S.S. Kresge Co. v. RubySupreme Court of Alabama · 1977
- Lunsford v. DietrichSupreme Court of Alabama · 1890
- Union Indemnity Co. v. WebsterSupreme Court of Alabama · 1928
- Gulsby v. Louisville & Nashville R. R.Supreme Court of Alabama · 1910
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