JUDGE ALARCON THROWS OUT RALPH HOROWITZ’S LAWSUIT (tags)
The court ruled that the plaintiffs had not alleged facts or provided the court with evidence showing that the Farmers had engaged in a willful act in their use of the preliminary injunction that was not proper in the regular conduct of the legal proceedings. The court held that under case law in California, even if a party files an action that it knows is substantively meritless and does so for an improper purpose, these facts alone do not constitute a claim for abuse of process. The Horowitz plaintiffs had to show that the Farmers used the preliminary injunction in an improper way after they obtained it. The plaintiffs failed to allege or show in their opposition brief any such misuse of the injunction, and because they did not, the court granted the Farmers’ motion and dismissed the plaintiffs’ lawsuit.