Levin

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff and appellant Barbara A. Levin (plaintiff) arrived at the United Air Lines, Inc. (United), terminal at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) 20 minutes before the scheduled departure of her flight to Vancouver. A series of contentious exchanges ensued between plaintiff, on the one hand, and personnel from United, Argenbright Security, Inc. (Argenbright), and the Los Angeles Airport Police, on the other, during which exchanges plaintiff admittedly made at least three separate references to a “bomb” in her luggage. The incident culminated in plaintiff’s arrest for mating a false bomb report, although she was never formally charged with a crime.

Plaintiff sued United, Argenbright, the City of Los Angeles, and several individuals alleging nine causes of action arising from the incident and her arrest. The jury returned a verdict in favor of each defendant and against plaintiff on all of her claims.

On appeal, plaintiff challenges, inter alia, the trial court’s modified jury instruction on probable cause to arrest, contending that the erroneous modification prejudicially affected the outcome of the verdicts on her claims based on false arrest.…