39 A.D.3d 341
N.Y. App. Div.
2007

Ingrid Arzeno et al., Respondents-Appellants, v Brodie M. Mack, Jr., Appellant-Respondent, and Travelers Casualty Company et al., Respondents

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, New York

833 N.Y.S.2d 480

Order, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Janice L. Bowman, J.), entered February 21, 2006, which denied the motion of defendant Mack for summary judgment dismissing the complaint as against him, granted summary judgment and dismissed the complaint as against defendants Travelers Casualty, Pepe and Farnan, and denied plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, unanimously modified, on the law, Mack‘s motion granted and the complaint dismissed as against him, and, upon a search of the record, summary judgment dismissing the complaint as against defendants Zelanka and Wanderman as well, and otherwise affirmed, without costs. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment accordingly.

This is an action for, inter alia, false arrest and malicious prosecution. Although an indictment charging plaintiffs with insurance fraud and offering false instruments for filing was ultimately dismissed, probable cause existed for their arrest and prosecution based on extensive investigation, including forensic tests of the vehicle‘s ignition cylinder. Such probable cause constituted a complete defense to a claim of false arrest, under both state and federal standards (see Marrero v City of New York, 33 AD3d 556, 557 [2006]; Weyant v Okst, 101 F3d 845, 852