RECORD IMPOUNDED

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-3744-15T4

D.C.A.,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

M.J.A.,

Defendant-Respondent.

______________________________________________

Submitted May 31, 2017 – Decided

Before Judges Messano and Grall.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New 

Jersey, Law Division, Morris County, Docket 

No. L-1026-15.

Stelio G. Papadopoulo, attorney for 

appellant.

Bevan, Mosca & Giuditta, PC, attorneys for 

respondent (John D. Coyle, of counsel and on 

the brief).

PER CURIAM

In this civil action between former spouses on a complaint 

and counterclaim alleging "malicious prosecution" and 

"abuse/malicious use of process," the trial court granted 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court." 

Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the 

parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited. R. 1:36-3.

November 2, 2017
2 A-3744-15T4

defendant's motion for summary judgment on plaintiff's claims

and ordered plaintiff to narrow his "oppressive" discovery 

requests. Thereafter, by stipulation and agreement, defendant 

dismissed her counterclaim subject to reinstatement in the event 

of an appeal and remand.

Plaintiff appeals and challenges both rulings. We affirm 

the grant of summary judgment. Because there will be no remand, 

the discovery order is moot and we do not address it. Cf. In re 

Commitment of N.N., 146 N.J. 112, 124 (1996) (discussing 

circumstances warranting consideration of moot orders).

I.

Plaintiff's tort claims are based on defendant's filing and 

litigating a complaint seeking a final restraining order (FRO)

pursuant to the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (PDVA or the 

Act), N.J.S.A. 2C:25-17 to -35. In that action, defendant 

alleged two predicate acts of "domestic violence" as defined in 

N.J.S.A. 2C:25-19(a): stalking, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-10; and 

harassment, N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4.

After plaintiff followed defendant while she was driving, 

defendant obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO). She

survived plaintiff's motion for dismissal at the close of her 

case on issuance of a final restraining order (FRO), but at the 

close of defendant's case, the judge of the Family Part 
3 A-3744-15T4

determined defendant did not establish all the elements of the 

predicate acts. He found defendant failed to prove the 

essential element of intent required for harassment, N.J.S.A.

2C:33-4, and the essential repeated acts required to establish 

the "course of conduct" for stalking, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-10.

In the course of his final decision, the judge made 

findings on elements of harassment and stalking defendant had

established. Addressing the evidence presented during the 

extended multi-day hearing, including evidence on the history of 

domestic violence in this family, the judge explained: "Putting 

all those things together, I think I would have to make a 

finding that any plaintiff in a similar situation would 

reasonably be seriously annoyed and alarmed by seeing [her 

husband] behind her." The judge found defendant "truthful," 

believed "she certainly was upset" and that she believed her 

husband was following her and was in a "panic." N.J.S.A. 2C:33-

4; see Cesare v. Cesare, 154 N.J. 394, 414-15 (1998) (requiring 

an assessment of annoyance and alarm essential to harassment 

from the perspective of the complainant and the circumstances of 

the relationship); accord State v. Hoffman, 149 N.J. 564, 585 

(1997); cf. N.J.S.A. 2C:12-10; State v. Gandhi, 201 N.J. 161, 

187 (2010) (noting that stalking requires a course of conduct 

that would cause a reasonable person fear).
4 A-3744-15T4

Without a predicate act, the judge was required to dismiss 

and dissolve the TRO and deny an FRO. Nevertheless, the judge 

noted he would not have issued an FRO because he did not think 

it was necessary and was concerned defendant "might" use the FRO

"to perhaps, gain an advantage in the custody relationship."

After obtaining a favorable result in the PDVA action, 

plaintiff commenced this civil action contending defendant

sought the protection of the PDVA maliciously and without basis.

II.

A.

"Our review of a summary judgment ruling is de novo." 

Conley v. Guerrero, 228 N.J. 339, 346 (2017). "[W]e apply the 

same standard governing the trial court — we view the evidence 

in the light most favorable to the non-moving party." Steinberg 

v. Sahara Sam's Oasis, LLC, 226 N.J. 344, 349 (2016) (quoting 

Qian v. Toll Bros. Inc., 223 N.J. 124, 134-35 (2015)). To

prevail, the moving party must show entitlement to judgment "as 

a matter of law." Bhagat v. Bhagat, 217 N.J. 22, 38 (2014). A 

defendant can prevail on summary judgment in action alleging a 

malicious misuse or abuse of process by establishing that 

plaintiff cannot, as a matter of law, prove an essential element 

of the claim. See, e.g., Brunson v. Affinity Fed. Credit Union, 

199 N.J. 381, 399-400 (2009).
5 A-3744-15T4

B.

The facts discernible from the evidential materials 

submitted on the motion for summary judgment are stated here in 

the light most favorable to plaintiff.1 This action under the 

PDVA was not the parties' first, and they were both represented 

by counsel. About a year and a half before this complaint, 

defendant filed a complaint under the PDVA that she dismissed 

because she and plaintiff agreed to restraints outside the PDVA.2 

While plaintiff disputed many of the allegations of prior 

domestic violence, he admitted he had pushed defendant into a 

table in the past.

When defendant filed this complaint in 2014, the parties 

were divorced. The divorce did not end amicably. Pursuant to 

their decree, neither former spouse is to know where the other 

lives. In addition, plaintiff's visitations with their three 

 

1 The materials submitted in support of and opposition to the 

summary judgment include the domestic violence complaints, a 

post-judgment order entered in the parties' divorce case, and 

the pleadings and portions of the transcript of the testimony 

and rulings in the final hearing on the PDVA-action underlying 

this tort action.

2 In an amended complaint filed after defendant had an attorney, 

defendant set forth a history of domestic violence commencing in 

1998.
6 A-3744-15T4

children are supervised at a center for evaluation and 

counseling (CEC).3

The incident that led defendant to file the complaint under 

the PDVA that gave rise to this tort action occurred after

defendant picked their children up from a supervised visit with 

their father that ended at 5:30 on an evening in mid-November. 

Consistent with their usual procedure for transfer of the 

children following visitation, defendant left the CEC with the 

children and plaintiff delayed his departure. When plaintiff 

left, he was going to his workplace to check his schedule for 

the next day, and he took the same road in the same direction 

defendant was travelling. There was no evidence that defendant 

knew or had reason to suspect that plaintiff was going to his 

workplace that night.

There is no dispute that plaintiff drove behind defendant's 

car in the same lane for at least a mile. Plaintiff was aware 

that he was driving behind defendant's car with only a few cars 

between them. Defendant saw the headlights of plaintiff's car

behind her. She recognized them because, to her, they were

unusual and looked "alien," like the lights of a space ship.

 

3 The record on appeal does not include the judgment of divorce, 

but defendant referred to the "decree" in her initial complaint 

and the information about its terms was undisputed.
7 A-3744-15T4

Alarmed, she drove into a parking lot in front of a roadside 

restaurant. Plaintiff acknowledged seeing defendant enter the 

parking lot and driving past her car. By defendant's account, 

plaintiff looked into her car as he passed and made a face that 

upset her and the children. Plaintiff denied looking into the 

car.

After plaintiff had passed the lot, defendant resumed her 

course of travel on the same road. Plaintiff later saw 

defendant's car in a lane for left turns and saw her make that 

turn. After she turned, defendant saw a car with the same 

alien-type headlights as plaintiff's behind her. She believed 

plaintiff was driving that car and was trying to follow her and 

the children home, and she was alarmed. Accordingly, she went 

to a nearby firehouse for help and obtained her TRO that night.

By plaintiff's account, which he supported with GPS 

tracking records and testimony from a co-worker introduced at 

the hearing, he had not turned left and followed defendant. 

Instead, he continued to his workplace.

C.

General principles governing claims of malicious use and 

abuse of process inform our review of this summary judgment 

motion. Our courts consider these claims "with great caution 

because of their capacity to chill resort to our courts by 
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persons who believe that they have a criminal complaint or civil 

claim against another." LoBiondo v. Schwartz, 199 N.J. 62, 89 

(2009).

That cautious approach is especially appropriate when the 

civil action is commenced under PDVA. The PDVA is "particularly 

solicitous of victims of domestic violence"; the purpose of the 

"Act is to assure the victims of domestic violence 'the maximum 

protection from abuse the law can provide.'" Hoffman, supra, 

149 N.J. at 584 (quoting N.J.S.A. 2C:25-18). The Act 

"effectuates the notion that the victim of domestic violence is 

entitled to be left alone. To be left alone is, in essence, the 

basic protection the law seeks to assure these victims." Ibid.

Recognizing "that in the area of domestic violence, as in 

some other areas in our law, some people may attempt to use the 

process as a sword rather than as a shield," the Court has

directed the judges of the Family Part to serve as gatekeepers 

to avoid such abuse. Id. at 586; accord Cesare v. Cesare, 154 

N.J. 394, 416 (1998). As findings of facts quoted above 

demonstrate, the Family Part judge who decided this case 

mentioned the potential for abuse.

Given the underlying purpose of the PDVA and the 

gatekeeping role of judges who decide these cases, an expansive 

reading of decisional law addressing these common law torts 
9 A-3744-15T4

would be highly inappropriate. In this context where emotions 

commonly run high, the potential for an unsuccessful applicant 

for an FRO being "forced to defend against one of these claims 

based on little more than having filed, and lost, in a court 

proceeding as to which the original defendant harbors resentment 

and anger" is as apparent as the likelihood that such tort 

litigation will exacerbate existing hostilities. LoBiondo, 

supra, 199 N.J. at 91. In this case, there is "little more" 

than the fact that plaintiff ultimately prevailed in the action 

under the PDVA to support plaintiff's tort claims.

(1)

Plaintiff's claim of malicious prosecution fails as a 

matter of law, because malicious prosecution refers to actions 

seeking redress from malicious pursuit of criminal prosecutions. 

LoBiondo, supra, 199 N.J. at 89-90. But an action under the 

PDVA is not a criminal prosecution. N.J.S.A. 2C:25-19; N.J.S.A.

2C:25-28 to -29; see J.D. v. M.D.F., 207 N.J. 458, 474-75 (2011)

(discussing the distinction between actions under the PDVA and 

criminal prosecutions and the varying standards of proof).

Accordingly, defendant was entitled to summary judgment on this 

claim.
10 A-3744-15T4

(2)

To establish the elements of malicious use of civil process 

plaintiff had to show that defendant (1) commenced the PDVA 

action; (2) was motivated by malice; (3) did not have probable 

cause when she commenced and continued the action; (4) failed to 

establish her claim; and (5) caused plaintiff to suffer a 

special grievance as a consequence of her filing the complaint 

under the PDVA. See LoBiondo, supra, 199 N.J. at 90.

The trial court concluded plaintiff could not establish 

defendant lacked probable cause, because the judge of the Family 

Part had determined she did when he denied defendant's motion 

for involuntary dismissal. Plaintiff objects to this use of 

issue preclusion on several grounds, but we are free to and opt 

to affirm the grant of summary judgment based on plaintiff's 

inability to establish probable cause for a different reason. 

See Isko v. Planning Bd. of Livingston, 51 N.J. 162, 175 (1968) 

(noting the commonality and propriety of affirming a valid 

determination entered on an erroneous basis).4

 

4 Reliance on issue preclusion in this context is a matter of 

some complexity, and we do not have a full record of the 

testimony presented during the hearing on the FRO. See Lind v. 

Schmid, 67 N.J. 255, 265-66 (1975) (discussing findings of 

probable cause made in the litigation giving rise to a 

subsequent claim of malicious prosecution and concluding that

(footnoted continued next page)
11 A-3744-15T4

Plaintiff could not, as a matter of law, establish that 

defendant did not have probable cause. In this context, 

"[p]robable cause is a matter of law to be determined by the 

court, and it is only submitted to the jury if the facts giving 

rise to probable cause are themselves in dispute." LoBiondo, 

supra, 199 N.J. at 93. In determining whether probable cause 

exists, courts consider the totality of the circumstances known 

to the party at the time, not facts learned later. Brunson, 

supra, 199 N.J. at 398.

As to this element of his cause of action, plaintiff had to 

"establish a negative, namely, that probable cause did not 

exist." Lind v. Schmid, 67 N.J. 255, 263 (1975). Stated 

differently, plaintiff had to "demonstrate that . . . when the 

defendant put the [PDVA] proceedings in motion the circumstances 

were such as not to warrant an ordinarily prudent individual in 

believing that [a predicate] offense had been committed." Ibid. 

(emphasis in original).

 

(footnoted continued)

some are and some are not determinative of "probable cause" in a 

subsequent action on malicious prosecution or malicious use of 

process, which depends upon the adequacy of the court's 

pertinent findings). There is no reason to ponder the question 

of issue preclusion here, because this case can be resolved by 

considering the record presented to the trial court on summary 

judgment motion in the light most favorable to plaintiff.
12 A-3744-15T4

Here, the totality of circumstances known and knowable to 

defendant were undisputed. Plaintiff had used physical force 

against defendant in the past, and the parties were subject to a 

judgment that precluded each of them from knowing where the 

other lived. This incident occurred in the evening near 

suppertime and after the children spent an hour of supervised 

visitation with their father — a time when plaintiff would 

expect defendant to be bringing the children home. Plaintiff 

drove behind defendant for about a mile, and he passed near her 

car when she pulled into parking lot to avoid his following her.

After plaintiff passed, defendant continued on that road

and took a left turn onto another street, where she noticed 

headlights that looked like plaintiff's unusual headlights 

behind her on that street. Plaintiff saw her make that turn.

In the totality of these circumstances, an ordinarily 

prudent individual would be warranted in believing that 

plaintiff was following, harassing and stalking defendant. 

Harassment may be established by proof of a "course of alarming 

conduct" undertaken "to alarm or seriously annoy" another, 

N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4(c). And, stalking may be established by proof 

of a "course of conduct" that includes knowingly maintaining 

physical proximity under circumstances that "would cause a 

reasonable person to fear" for his or her safety or the safety 
13 A-3744-15T4

of another, N.J.S.A. 2C:12-10(a)(1), (b). An ordinarily prudent 

person aware of the totality of these circumstances would have 

reason to believe plaintiff followed on the first and second 

streets to, at least, annoy her, and on the circumstances known 

at the time would have no reason to think plaintiff was simply 

driving to his workplace to check on his schedule for the next 

day.

We reject plaintiff's claim that plaintiff's exculpatory 

explanation eradicated probable cause and required defendant to 

withdraw her PDVA-complaint as soon as she heard it. 

Plaintiff's explanation did not cover his decision to drive 

behind defendant's car until she disrupted her travel and opted 

to retreat to a parking lot off the road. Thus, his explanation 

did not obliterate the foundation for defendant's complaint.

As the undisputed facts established probable cause as a 

matter of law, there was no question for the jury to resolve and 

defendant was entitled to summary judgment on plaintiff's claim 

of malicious use of process.

(3)

Defendant was also entitled to summary judgment as a matter 

of law on plaintiff's claim for malicious abuse of process. An 

"action for abuse of process lies for the improper, unwarranted, 

and perverted use of process after it has been issued." Earl v. 
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Winne, 14 N.J. 119, 128 (1953) (emphasis added) (quoting Ash v. 

Cohn, 119 N.J.L. 54, 58 (E. & A. 1937)). "[P]rocess has not 

been abused unless after its issuance the defendant reveals an 

ulterior purpose [the defendant] had in securing it by 

committing 'further acts' whereby [the defendant] demonstrably 

uses the process as a means to coerce or oppress the plaintiff." 

Tedards v. Auty, 232 N.J. Super. 541, 550 (App. Div. 1989)

(quoting Gambocz v. Apel, 102 N.J. Super. 123, 130-31 (App. 

Div.), certif. denied, 52 N.J. 485 (1968)).

The only process issued in this case was the TRO. The TRO 

addressed visitation, contact between plaintiff and defendant 

and plaintiff's possession of a weapon. As to visitation, the 

TRO incorporates the arrangement already provided in the 

judgment of divorce; the TRO changed nothing.

5 Similarly, the 

limitations on contact between the parties included in the TRO 

are no more burdensome than those provided in the judgment of 

divorce, which precludes each party from knowing where the other 

resides.

The prohibition against possession of weapons included in 

the TRO is the only significant change effectuated by the TRO, 

 

5 Although the Family Part judge was concerned that defendant 

might use an FRO in furtherance of an ulterior purpose related 

to custody, the TRO was the only process issued and it was not 

used to alter custody or parenting time.
15 A-3744-15T4

and that temporary restriction was dissolved at the conclusion 

of the hearing on the FRO. Plaintiff contends that because he 

could not carry a weapon, he lost the opportunity to earn about 

$20,000 overtime pay while the TRO was in place pending 

conclusions of the hearing on the FRO.

Granting that plaintiff established economic harm as a 

consequence of entry of the TRO, there was no evidence that 

would permit a jury to find that defendant sought a TRO with the 

"ulterior purpose" of reducing plaintiff's income. There is 

nothing in the record that suggests she had that purpose, and 

because divorced spouses share the responsibility of supporting 

their children, Pascale v. Pascale, 140 N.J. 583, 593 (1995), it

would not be reasonable to infer that defendant, the custodial 

parent, sought a TRO with the purpose of diminishing plaintiff's 

income. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, the

economic ramifications of the TRO are more reasonably viewed as 

an undesirable and unintended consequence of the TRO than they 

are viewed as the malicious motive or the ulterior purpose 

actuating defendant's pursuit of an order requiring plaintiff to 

leave her alone. Accordingly, defendant was also entitled to 

summary judgment on the count of plaintiff's complaint alleging 

abuse of process.
16 A-3744-15T4

Plaintiff presents several arguments that do not require 

discussion given our disposition of the case. R. 2:11-

3(e)(1)(E). He claims the trial court erred by: relying on 

issue preclusion; applying the wrong legal standard in granting 

judgment on malicious abuse of process; granting judgment on 

abuse of process cause without notice and opportunity to be 

heard; granting judgment on abuse of process without an adequate 

explication of findings and conclusions; overlooking defendant's 

failure to provide a statement of material facts; and finding 

absence of malice when defendant had not raised the point.

Affirmed.