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Plaintiff's acquittal in criminal case still defeated her civil action for false arrest because of existence of probable cause

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Plaintiff was charged, tried, and acquitted in the accidental death of her child. After the acquittal, she sued the police. "The existence of probable cause to support Plaintiff's arrest necessarily precludes her entire action", including collateral estoppel from the finding of probable cause in the underlying criminal action. Garner v. Grant, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9649 (E.D. Mich. February 8, 2008).* (Comment: As defense lawyers, we see clients who want to sue the police after they win their criminal case (and a lot who want to sue as soon as they are charged). They should thankful they got out of the criminal case and get on with life. This case was different because of the nature of the underlying case, but that only explains the plaintiffs' desire to sue, not that it will ever be successful...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 13, 2008 (boomark / email).