Deborah Barnette and Susan Hilliard Hendrix brought a claim for malicious prosecution against Coastal Hematology & Oncology, P. C. and Dr. Brian Kim. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, and Barnette and Hendrix appeal. In considering this appeal, we must conduct a de novo review, viewing the evidence and the inferences drawn from it in the light most favorable to Barnette and Hendrix, the nonmoving parties. Footnotes and punctuation omitted. Williams v. Ngo , 289 Ga. App. 44 656 SE2d 193 2007. So viewed, the evidence shows that Barnette worked as an office manager at Coastal from 1998 until September 2002. Part of her job duties included issuing paychecks, handling payroll and maintaining personnel files. During the early stage of her employment, Barnette reported primarily to Kim. Hendrix, who is Barnette’s daughter, first began to work for Coastal in 1998 as a part-time billing clerk during her school vacations. Kim specifically approved Barnette’s decision to hire Hendrix at this time. But at some point, a conflict arose between Hendrix and another Coastal employee. The other employee was full-time, and Hendrix was only part-time. Kim ultimately decided to terminate Hendrix’s employment. Barnette remained at Coastal, and Kim stated that during this period he was “absolutely” satisfied with her work.
In 2002, Coastal hired Howard Werner1 as the practice’s Chief Operating Officer, and Barnette began reporting directly to Werner, not Kim. Kim affirmed that Werner was Barnette’s immediate supervisor, but stated that Werner ultimately answered to Coastal’s partners and could not properly act without their approval. Nevertheless, Kim admitted that Barnette was entitled to rely upon Werner’s representations on the assumption that Werner had cleared matters with the partners. In January 2002, Barnette’s salary was approximately $81,000 per year, but after Werner was hired, Barnette began receiving an increased salary of $85,000. Barnette stated that Werner approved this increase, but she concedes that Kim may not have known about the pay raise.2
