General Litigation:

Representing the Victims of Wrongful Acts – Including Malicious Prosecution and False Arrest

MALICIOUS PROSECUTION - The tort of malicious prosecution is designed to compensate a wrongly accused criminal defendant for the damages caused by the misuse of criminal prosecution.

In order to prevail in an action for malicious prosecution, a plaintiff must show:

(1) malice in instituting or continuing a criminal prosecution;

(2) lack of probable cause to initiate the prosecution; and

(3) A judgment in favor of the accused.

FALSE IMPRISONMENT - The requisites for a claim for false imprisonment are:

(1) the intentional detention of the person and

(2) the unlawfulness of the detention.

To establish a claim for false imprisonment, one must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he was intentionally detained or confined without any legal reason. False imprisonment is not concerned with good or bad faith or malicious motive.