Zike v. Advance America, et al., No. 10-2678 (8th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseAppellant sued his former employer claiming under Missouri law that the employer subjected him to malicious prosecution and false arrest for his alleged theft of certain checks. A issue was whether the district court properly granted summary judgment to the employer, concluding, inter alia, that appellant failed to create a genuine issue of fact as to the lack of probable cause for the theft prosecution, an essential element of malicious prosecution and false arrest under Missouri law. The court held that the district court did not err in concluding that the Missouri court's probable cause determination at appellant's preliminary hearing constituted prima facie evidence of the employer's probable cause which appellant had failed to rebut. Therefore, the court declined to address the district court's alternative holding that the underlying prosecution did not terminate in appellant's favor. The court also held that the district court correctly granted summary judgment in the employer's favor on appellant's claim for false arrest where the arrest was supported by probable cause and was justified per se under Missouri law and could not form the basis of a false arrest claim.
Court Description: Civil case - Torts. District court did not err in concluding that a Missouri court's finding of probable cause at a preliminary hearing constituted prima facie evidence that defendant had probable cause to conduct an investigation, and the court properly granted defendant summary judgment on plaintiff's malicious-prosecution claim; where an arrest is supported by probable cause, the arrest is justified under Missouri law and cannot form the basis for a false-arrest claim.
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