Selvy v. Morrison

In Selvy v. Morrison, 292 Ga. App. 702, 704 (665 SE2d 401) (2008), the plaintiff alleged that she was brutally treated when falsely arrested for disorderly conduct. Police officers had come to her home to arrest her fiance. After they had done so, she demanded that they leave her house. She used profanity. The officers left and Selvy shut and locked the door. But then one of the officers yelled, "Fuck this shit, arrest that bitch too!" The officer began banging on the door, demanding she open it and threatening to break it down if she refused. When she opened the door, one of the officers grabbed her arm, twisted it behind her back and slammed her face into the wall. Another officer kicked her legs out from under her and, in the process, kicked her ten-year-old son in the mouth, causing him to bleed. Another officer then said to Selvy, "Look what you did to your kid, you stupid bitch." Id. at 702-703. In affirming the trial court's grant of summary judgment to the officers, we rejected Selvy's claim that the officers acted with actual malice. The Court held that in the context of official immunity, actual malice requires a deliberate intention to do wrong and denotes express malice or malice in fact. Actual malice does not include implied malice, or the reckless disregard for the rights and safety of others. A deliberate intention to do wrong such as to constitute the actual malice necessary to overcome official immunity must be the intent to cause the harm suffered by the plaintiffs. Likewise, the phrase "actual intent to cause injury" has been defined in a tort context to mean an actual intent to cause harm to the plaintiff, not merely an intent to do the act purportedly resulting in the claimed injury. This definition of intent contains aspects of malice, perhaps a wicked or evil motive. Id. at 704-705 The Court concluded that "evidence demonstrating frustration, irritation, and possibly even anger is not sufficient to penetrate official immunity, nor is proof of ill will, unless the ill will is combined with the intent to do something wrongful or illegal." Id. at 706.