NY: False confession forwarded to DA for grand jury supports common law malicious prosecution and § 1983 claim

“Evidence that the officers forwarded the false confession to prosecutors can satisfy the commencement element of a malicious prosecution cause of action, and the proof of the absence of probable cause for the prosecution and the police’s transmission of the fabricated evidence can overcome the presumption of probable cause arising from a grand jury’s indictment of the plaintiff. The same proof can support an inference that the police acted with actual malice in commencing the prosecution. Applying these principles to the consolidated appeals now before us, we hold that the courts below improperly granted summary judgment to the individual defendants on plaintiff’s false arrest and malicious prosecution claims under New York common law and 42 U.S.C. § 1983.” De Lourdes Torres v. Jones, 2016 NY Slip Op 01254, 2016 N.Y. LEXIS 205 (Feb. 23, 2016).