[DOWNLOAD] "Mcdermott v. W. T. Grant Co." by Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Mcdermott v. W. T. Grant Co.
- Author : Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
- Release Date : January 24, 1943
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 53 KB
Description
LUMMUS, Justice. This is an action of tort, with one count for false arrest and another for slander. The plaintiff got a verdict of $1 on the count for slander, and the defendant's exceptions relating to that count are waived. On the count for false arrest the plaintiff got a verdict for $1,425, and the case is here on the defendant's exception to the denial of its motion for a directed verdict. The following facts could have been found upon the evidence. On October 25, 1940, a woman clerk in the defendant's store in Clinton observed two men acting suspiciously in the store, and at the same time she saw the plaintiff across the street. She called the facts to the attention of the store manager. The manager followed the two men down the street, but they disappeared in the crowd. The manager then went to lunch. On his return he saw a police officer, and told him that the plaintiff was standing across the street while the two men were in the store. The officer asked the plaintiff to accompany him to the place where the manager stood on the sidewalk outside the store. The officer asked the manager if the plaintiff was the man he wanted placed under arrest, and the manager said, 'I want that man locked up. He's one of the three men who has been in my store and have stolen things.' The officer then placed the plaintiff in a 'cruising car' and told him he was under arrest and took him to the police station. The manager came to the police station and insisted that the plaintiff be kept under arrest. But the manager testified that he told the chief of police that he had never seen the plaintiff before, had not seen him in the store, and that he did not want to press any charges or have any charges to press against the plaintiff. After being at the police station for about two hours the plaintiff was released. The plaintiff testified that he had never been in the defendant's store, and the manager testified that 'the plaintiff was never in the store as far as witness knew.' The burden was upon the defendant to prove justification for any arrest for which it was responsible. Roseman v. Korb, 311 Mass. 75, 77, 40 N.E.2d 255.