Back

Villanueva vs UCPB-Dagupan

HECTOR C. VILLANUEVA, petitioner, vs. UNITED COCONUT PLANTERS BANK (UCPB), Dumaguete Branch, respondent.

G.R. No. 138291 | 2000-03-07

D E C I S I O N

PANGANIBAN, J.:

A suit for malicious prosecution cannot prosper unless the plaintiff satisfactorily proves that the earlier criminal action lacked probable cause and was filed, by a sinister design, mainly to injure, vex, annoy or humiliate. An acquittal, by itself, does not necessarily prove the absence of probable cause in the criminal information or complaint. Upon the other hand, the complainant cannot escape liability merely on the ground that it was the fiscal who prosecuted the proceedings in court.

The Case

Before us is a Petition for Review on Certiorari of the October 30, 1998 Decision1 [Rollo, pp. 13-25.] and...