Defendants below, Stinespring and Hall Finance Company, Inc., d/b/a Security Finance Company (hereinafter Hall Finance) bring this direct appeal from a jury verdict and judgment in favor of Mrs. Fields awarding her $10,000 damages as the result of a malicious prosecution.
Stinespring was agent (employee) and manager of the branch of Hall Finance at Commerce, Georgia. His
Later during the afternoon of December 31,1974, the employee was arrested at the Commerce office of Hall Finance and incarcerated in the Jackson County jail. Stinespring arranged for bail for the release of his employee. Stinespring on that same afternoon or during the early evening (New Year’s Eve) went to the Fields’ home to "inventory mortgaged property.” Though the evidence is contested (and resolved by the jury against the defendants) Stinespring concluded that certain of the mortgaged personalty was not in the home. He, therefore, on that evening swore out a criminal warrant for Mrs. Fields for illegal disposition of mortgaged property. Mrs. Fields was arrested and confined in the county jail for some 12 hours over New Year’s Eve. At a preliminary hearing on January 7, 1975, at which Stinespring and Hall Finance were represented by counsel, as was Mrs. Fields, the prosecution was dismissed for insufficient evidence. This action for malicious prosecution followed.
Stinespring and Hall Finance enumerate as error: (1) the failure of the trial court to direct a verdict in favor of Hall Finance at the close of evidence; (2) errors by the court in giving or failing to give certain charges; and (3) error by the court in admitting or refusing to admit certain testimony. Held:
1. In the first enumeration, appellants urge error in the refusal to direct a verdict in favor of Hall Finance at the close of the evidence. This error is predicated on the alleged lack of proof showing either that Stinespring
Stinespring testified he was charged by Hall Finance with the responsibility of making loans and thereafter collecting the same. He acknowledged there was an established procedure for swearing out a warrant which he did not follow. However, he further testified that the only reason he obtained the warrant was to coerce an early collection of the past due indebtedness. He testified he did not think it would ever come to an arrest and confinement of Mrs. Fields.
Even if we assume that Stinespring exceeded the scope of his authority in swearing out the warrant, Hall Finance still is faced with ratification of Stinespring’s acts. Where the principal ratifies the tort of the agent after its commission, the liability of the principal is the same as if he had commanded it, provided the ratification is had with full knowledge on the part of the principal of the manner in which the tort was committed.
Turner v. Joiner,
2. In their second enumeration, appellants complain that the trial court erred in not telling the jury why it removed from its consideration the counterclaim of Hall Finance in which Hall Finance sought to recover the indebtedness owed it by Mrs. Fields. In point of fact, Mrs. Fields confessed judgment as to that indebtedness, thus removing that issue from contention.
The record does reflect that the court informed the jury only that the counterclaim was no longer an issue before them and they were to ignore that issue. However, Hall Finance’s counsel, in the presence of the jury, also stated that objection was made for the record that the court did not tell the jury that Mrs. Fields had confessed judgment and that that was the reason the counterclaim was being withdrawn from the jury’s consideration. Thus, it is clear that the jury was aware that Mrs. Fields had confessed judgment whether that knowledge came from the judge or from counsel.
Though several speculative contentions are advanced as to the impact of the court’s failure to explain why the counterclaim was removed from the jury’s consideration, at worst the counterclaim was peripheral to the questions of malicious prosecution, agency or ratification. The original indebtedness was firmly established and never disputed. It is an old and sound rule that error, assuming this to be such, must be harmful.
First Nat. Bank v. American Sugar Refining Co.,
The basic contention of Mrs. Fields was that Stinespring swore out the warrant against her in retaliation for her having taken a warrant against Stinespring’s fellow employee. It thus was proper to show the reason she took out the original warrant to explain her course of conduct as well as to establish the predicate for her contention of a malicious prosecution. It is beyond peradventure that a ruling or judgment of a trial court right for any reason will be affirmed by the appellate courts.
Tierce v. Davis,
4. Appellants urge as error in Enumeration 4 the inclusion in the charge on damages flowing from wounded feelings, loss of happiness and peace of mind, a reference to permanent impairment of the capacity to work and labor. There was absolutely no evidence offered or relevant to an impaired ability to work or labor. The nature of the action, the evidence offered in support thereof and the thrust of the charge of the court all related to mental discomfort and unhappiness. While the specific portion of the charge of which complaint is made when torn asunder and considered as a disjointed fragment may be objectionable, when put together and considered as a whole, the charge using the questioned language as an example only, was perfectly sound.
Mendel v. Pinkard,
5. The remaining enumerations of error have been carefully considered with the exception of the last which has been abandoned.
Kelly v. Whitaker,
Judgment affirmed.