Jones v. Soileau

YELVERTON, Judge.

This is an action for damages for malicious prosecution. The trial court rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Elsie Jones, for $25,000. The defendant, Calvin Soileau, appealed. We reverse.

We find that plaintiff failed to prove one of the essential elements in a malicious prosecution case, an absence of probable cause. Before discussing this element, it is necessary that we recite the facts leading up to the criminal prosecution and the results of that prosecution.

In the fall of 1980 Elsie Jones approached Cal Soileau, proprietor of Cal’s Grocery in Ville Platte,…