Opinion
No. 8680.
Argued January 12, 1945.
Decided February 5, 1945.
Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; George A. Welsh, Judge.
Action by Homer D. Johnson against the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Quaker City Lodge No. 149, an unincorporated association, Robert P. McCuen and others, as trustees ad litem and another for malicious prosecution. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendants appeal.
Affirmed.
Joseph S. Conwell, Jr., of Philadelphia, Pa. (Pepper, Bodine, Stokes Schoch, of Philadelphia, Pa., on the brief), for appellants.
Harry R. Kozart, of Philadelphia, Pa. (William Charles Brown, of Philadelphia, Pa., on the brief), for appellee.
Before GOODRICH and McALLISTER, Circuit Judges, and GIBSON, District Judge.
The plaintiff in this case recovered a judgment for malicious prosecution in the District Court and the defendant appealed. The problem is purely one of Pennsylvania law and was so recognized by the District Judge. There was evidence that the criminal prosecution of which complaint is made was instituted in an effort to collect a debt. Under those circumstances the rule in Pennsylvania is that the burden of proving probable cause shifts to the defendant. Curley v. Automobile Finance Co., 343 Pa. 280, 23 A.2d 48, 139 A.L.R. 1082. The defendants admit this is to be the law, but affirm in this Court that they met the burden and are entitled to judgment. With this proposition in mind the Court has examined the testimony and are unable to agree that the appellants' case is such that on the facts we can say that the judgment below was wrong. It is therefore affirmed.