Royal Oil Company, Inc. v. Wells

Pamela Wells (plaintiff) worked at The Dodge Store (defendant), a convenience store owned by Royal Oil Company, Inc. (defendant), as a waitress and cashier. April Miller managed The Dodge Store, and her husband, Curtis Miller (defendant), and her brother, Darrell Ladner, were also employees of the store. While Wells was working the cash register, April claimed to see Wells ring up the change from a transaction and place the money on top of the register rather than in the drawer. April communicated this to Curtis, who proceeded to the local court, executed an affidavit, and initiated criminal-embezzlement charges against Wells. Wells was given no opportunity to explain her actions before the charges occurred. April later asked Wells about the transaction, and Wells explained that she had rung up the sale and often put change on top of the register so that she could fill the machine that gave automatic change to customers. During this conversation, police arrived and arrested Wells. A tally of the drawer found that the drawer was not missing funds, and the transaction in question had been rung up. The judge found there to be sufficient cause to submit the case to the grand jury, but the grand jury no-billed the case. Wells sued Royal Oil Company, Inc., The Dodge Store, and Curtis for malicious prosecution. At trial, Wells testified that she had a good relationship with April and Curtis until they learned she was married to a Black man. After that, April started giving Wells write-ups even though Wells remained conscientious about her work. Wells also testified that snide remarks were made about her marriage at work, and someone wrote a racial slur on Wells’s car a week before the incident in question. The record also showed that Ladner was beaten up by a Black prisoner while in prison and hated Black people as a result. The jury awarded a verdict and judgment for compensatory damages to Wells. Royal Oil Company, Inc., The Dodge Store, and Curtis appealed.