§ 26-3 Malicious Prosecution - Probable Cause Defined

• Library: South Carolina Requests to Charge - Civil (SCBar) (2016 Ed.)

§ 26-3 Malicious Prosecution - Probable Cause Defined

An essential element of malicious prosecution is the institution of judicial proceedings against the plaintiff without probable cause. The plaintiff must prove the lack of probable cause. Probable cause in this context does not turn upon the plaintiff's guilt or innocence, but rather upon whether the facts within the prosecutor's knowledge would lead a reasonable person to believe the plaintiff was guilty of the crime charged. Thus, the focus is on whether the defendant had reasonable cause to believe the plaintiff guilty, and not on the plaintiff's actual guilt or innocence.

Probable cause is defined as a good faith belief that a person is guilty of a crime when this belief rests on such grounds as would induce an ordinarily prudent and cautious person, under the circumstances, to believe...