False Incarceration in the State of California: It’s More Than You Think

Most of the time, when people think of false imprisonment, they think of people being falsely arrested by the police. Most people don’t know that non-police officers can be responsible for false imprisonment in many different circumstances.

The purpose of this article is to give a brief overview of the civil tort of wrongful arrest in the state of California.

A basic definition of false civil imprisonment is; “a person who intentionally restrains another within the confines of a fixed area, without the consent of the person restrained, and without a privilege that would excuse the conduct.”

For example, let’s say a man locks a woman in a room without her permission. This would be a classic case of unlawful civil imprisonment.

Another example would be a person who has something of value for another person with the intention of keeping it in a certain place and without the consent of the person whose valuables are in possession.

False civil imprisonment could also include a person grabbing another person without their consent and holding them so they cannot get out.

There are many other examples of false imprisonment that I can provide, however, the examples above are meant to give you an idea of ​​what a false imprisonment civil tort is in the state of California.

A key element of the false imprisonment civil tort is that the arrested person must reasonably believe that he or she cannot leave. Reasonable is a legal term of art used in the legal world. What reasonable basically means is: what a reasonably prudent person would do or believe in similar circumstances.

Another key element of the false imprisonment error is that the person performing the imprisonment should not have the privilege to do so.

Examples of privileges that would allow one person to restrain another within the confines of a fixed area are: merchants investigating shoplifting; civilians who have witnessed a felony, and place the person who committed a felony on citizen’s arrest; or police officers who have probable cause to believe a crime has been committed.

As with other intentional errors, victims of wrongful imprisonment are entitled not only to compensatory damages, but may also recover punitive damages. (Punishment)

By Norman Gregory Fernandez, ESQ. Copyright 2006