Malicious Prosecution, Wrongful Arrest, and Infliction of Emotional Harm

It goes without saying that being arrested and prosecuted for something you didn’t do is a nightmare. In Georgia, if this happens to you, you have options for holding the responsible parties accountable. To win such a claim, it must be shown that (1) you were prosecuted for a criminal offense, (2) there was no probable cause for the prosecution, (3) the prosecution was instigated with malice, (4) the prosecution was under a valid warrant, (5) the charges were dismissed, and (6) you were damaged.

Whether you prosecuted for a crime under a valid warrant, whether the charges were dismissed, and whether you were damaged are straightforward factual issues. The more difficult issues to overcome are probable cause and malice.

Probable cause and malice exist when the information and facts provided to the police, which caused the charges to be brought, were lies or exaggerations. In other words, there is no probable cause when the complaining party knew the facts provided to the police were false or were not a fair, full, and complete statement of the facts.

A related claim is intentional infliction of emotional harm. This requires that the defendant’s conduct be (1) intentional or reckless, (2) extreme and outrageous, (3) the emotional distress was caused by the wrongful conduct, and (4) the emotional distress was severe. Like malicious prosecution, the key is whether the complaining party’s dishonesty  caused the charges to be brought against you. If so, a jury determines whether the conduct was outrageous enough to support a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

If you’ve be wrongly arrested, please call us to discuss how we can help you hold the responsible parties accountable.