Opinion
May 7, 1952.
Claimants Claude M. Roher, Earl L. Emrich and Herbert Snell have each recovered a judgment against the State for false arrest and imprisonment by a State trooper. The State appeals from each of these judgments. Each claimant also appeals on the ground that the amount awarded is inadequate. Claimant Lynn M. Roher, father of Claude, Fred Snell, father of Herbert, and Rose Marty, aunt of Earl L. Emrich with whom he resided, each appeal from a judgment of the Court of Claims dismissing their claims for mental anguish, loss of services caused by the false arrest of their sons and nephew respectively, and for moneys spent for legal expenses in procuring their release from jail As to the last three claims the Court of Claims properly held that there is no cause of action for mental anguish in such circumstances, and has found as a fact, based upon sufficient evidence, that all of the first three claimants named, though infants, were emancipated, and therefore were entitled to their own earnings and liable for their own attorney's fees. These claims were properly dismissed. The three claimants who have recovered damages had a valid cause of action against the State. Each was arrested without a warrant by a State trooper, taken to the trooper barracks for questioning, and were fingerprinted and photographed. They were subsequently arraigned before a Justice of the Peace upon a charge of petit larceny, a misdemeanor, and each was sentenced to thirty days in jail, of which nine days were served before their release was effected. They were taken, however, before a Justice of the Peace of a town other than the town where the alleged crime was committed, and therefore he had no jurisdiction. The arrest, without a warrant, for an alleged misdemeanor, concededly not committed in the presence of the arresting officer, was clearly illegal and in violation of section 177 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The State is liable for the consequences flowing from that illegal act. The amount of damages is a question of fact, and under the circumstances here, we think the award of $1,000, plus lost wages in the cases of two claimants, is fair and reasonable. The judgments of Claude M. Roher, Earl L. Emrich and Herbert Snell are affirmed, with costs to each. The judgments of dismissal of the claims of Lynn M. Roher, Fred Snell and Rose Marty are affirmed, without costs. Foster, P.J., Heffernan, Brewster, Bergan and Coon, JJ., concur. [ 200 Misc. 669. ]