Usher v. Skidmore

Texas Supreme Court
Usher v. Skidmore, 28 Tex. 616 (Tex. 1866)
Smith

Usher v. Skidmore

Opinion of the Court

Smith, J.

—If the amended petition filed by the plaintiff below, on the 19th February, 1861, did introduce a new and distinct cause of action from that originally sued upon, we are not satisfied that the court erred in ruling out the affidavit, and holding that the plaintiffs’ cause of action was barred by the twelve months’ limitation. (O. & W. Dig., Art. 1333; 7 Tex., 489; 8 Id., 225; Id., 427; 10 Id., 74; Paschal’s Dig., Art. 54, Note 243, p. 108.)

But we are of opinion it did not introduce a new cause of action, and was only an amendment of an inaccurate averment of a fact set up in the original petition. (4 Tex., 427; 9 Id., 379; Id., 553; 10 Id., 155.) The affidavit that *622was in part misdescribed in the original petition did not constitute the plaintiffs’ cause of action, for if that had been all that was done by the defendants, and the prosecution had gone no further, there would have been no cause of action for a malicious prosecution. The cause of action consisted in the injury she sustained by the arrest and confinement in custody under the charge of felony, which cause of action could not be complete until the discharge by the justice of the "peace, on the 28th January, 1860. We do not deem the averment respecting the affidavit at all material, for it only constituted evidence in behalf of the plaintiffs, which they were not bound to set forth in their pleadings, to prove the fact that the prosecution was instituted at her instance. ' That fact might be proved as well by other evidence, for all persons who co-operated with her in setting the prosecution on foot, if without probable cause, would be liable equally with the one who made the affidavit in pursuance of which the warrant of arrest was issued.

We are of opinion the court erred in its ruling in respect to limitation and the affidavit, and the judgment is reversed, and the cause

Remanded.

Reference

Full Case Name
Caton N. Usher et ux. v. Schuyler B. Skidmore et ux.
Cited By
4 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
The plaintiffs brought their suit for a malicious prosecution against a husband and wife, and in their petition alleged that “the defendants ” made the affidavit for the arrest which constituted the gravamen of the action. At the trial the plaintiffs offered in evidence the affidavit, but it appeared on investigation to have been made by only one of the defendants, and, on objection, it was excluded by the court. The plaintiffs amended by leave of the court, and alleged the affidavit to have been made by the defendant whose name appeared to it, instead of,by both defendants, as alleged in the petition. Thereupon the defendants, treating the amendment as a new cause of action, plead in bar of it the statute of limitation of twelve months. (Paschal’s Dig., Art. 4604, cl. 2.) Proceeding with the trial, the plaintiffs again offered in evidence the affidavit, but it purported on its face' to have been made more than twelve months previous to the amendment, and on objection by the defendants, based on their plea of limitation, it was again excluded by the court: Held, that the amended petition did not introduce a new cause of action, but merely corrected an inaccurate averment of an immaterial fact unnecessarily alleged in the original petition. In suits for a malicious prosecution, the cause of action consists, not in the affidavit to obtain a warrant of arrest, but in the arrest and confinement under the charge of felony preferred,' and the cause of action is not complete until the discharge of the accused. In an action for a malicious prosecution, the facts about the arrest, may be proved by other evidence than the affidavit, and all participants in the arrest are liable to the action.