Marvin Thompson filed a malicious prosecution action against Howard Brothers, Inc., alleging that it had improperly identified him as the perpetrator of the theft of a chainsaw from its hardware store. Howard Brothers moved for summary judgment, and the trial court granted the motion. Thompson appeals from the trial court’s summary judgment order. Because Thompson has presented no evidence of malice or want of probable cause, we affirm the trial court’s summary judgment ruling. “To prevail at summary judgment under OCGA § 9-11-56, the moving party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the undisputed facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, warrant judgment as a matter of law. A defendant may do this by showing the court that the documents, affidavits, depositions and other evidence in the record reveal that there is no evidence sufficient to create a jury issue on at least one essential element of plaintiff’s case.”1
In the instant case, Howard Brothers supported its motion for summary judgment with affidavits, deposition testimony and other evidence establishing that a man stole a chainsaw from its hardware store and the theft was captured on a surveillance videotape recorder. Two store employees chased after the man and saw him put the chainsaw in the back of a pickup truck and drive away. The employees got the tag number of the truck and gave that information to the police. A police investigator discovered that the tag number belonged to a truck owned by Thompson. The investigator obtained a photograph of Thompson from the Department of Motor Vehicles and was further informed by store employees that they had a copy of Thompson’s driver’s license because he had previously done business with the store. The investigator watched the surveillance videotape of the theft and, based on the photographs he had seen of Thompson, was certain that Thompson was the man depicted on the videotape. The investigator then obtained a warrant for Thompson’s arrest and a grand jury eventually indicted Thompson for theft by shoplifting.
