Opinion ID: 1172467
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Action for Malicious Prosecution Based on Cross-pleadings

Text: (2) We initially consider whether an action for malicious prosecution lies when based on the prosecution of a cross-pleading which allegedly is maliciously filed. Defendants argue that (1) their cross-complaint did not initiate a judicial proceeding; (2) that it was in effect only an affirmative defense which they were obligated to assert under penalty of waiver (see Code Civ. Proc., § 439); and (3) that it did not interject any theories or burdens not already raised by the answer to the complaint. The malicious commencement of a civil proceeding is actionable because it harms the individual against whom the claim is made, and also because it threatens the efficient administration of justice. The individual is harmed because he is compelled to defend against a fabricated claim which not only subjects him to the panoply of psychological pressures most civil defendants suffer, but also to the additional stress of attempting to resist a suit commenced out of spite or ill will, often magnified by slanderous allegations in the pleadings. In recognition of the wrong done the victim of such a tort, settled law permits him to recover the cost of defending the prior action including reasonable attorney's fees ( Stevens v. Chisholm (1919) 179 Cal. 557, 564 [178 P. 128]; Eastin v. Bank of Stockton (1884) 66 Cal. 123, 125-126 [4 P. 1106]), compensation for injury to his reputation or impairment of his social and business standing in the community ( Ray Wong v. Earle C. Anthony, Inc. (1926) 199 Cal. 15, 18 [247 P. 894]; Lerner v. Glickfeld (1960) 187 Cal. App.2d 514, 526 [9 Cal. Rptr. 686]), and for mental or emotional distress ( Singleton v. Perry (1955) 45 Cal.2d 489, 495 [289 P.2d 794]). [1] The judicial process is adversely affected by a maliciously prosecuted cause not only by the clogging of already crowded dockets, but by the unscrupulous use of the courts by individuals ... as instruments with which to maliciously injure their fellow men. ( Teesdale v. Liebschwager et al. (1919) 42 S.D. 323, 325 [174 N.W. 620].) The harm to society and to the individual cross-defendant caused by the filing of a cross-pleading without probable cause and with malice is substantially similar to that occasioned by the filing of a complaint or other initial pleading known to be false or meritless. The malicious cross-plaintiff, like the malicious plaintiff, uses the judicial process as a vehicle for harassing or vexing his adversary or as a means of coercing the settlement of a collateral matter. The cross-defendant, like the defendant in an original cause maliciously prosecuted, is compelled to expend attorney's fees in defending against the false charge and may suffer the same mental or emotional distress and possible loss of reputation and standing in the community. For our purposes no sound reason appears for treating a cause of action initiated by a cross-pleading as only an integral part of that cause initiated by the complaint. In Skaff v. Small Claims Court (1968) 68 Cal.2d 76 [65 Cal. Rptr. 65, 435 P.2d 825], we acknowledged that the filing of a counterclaim instituted a ... separate, simultaneous action and reasoned that for purposes of the cross-action, the cross-defendant was a defendant, noting: [i]n analyzing counterclaims and cross-complaints, this court has recognized that `these cross-actions ... are still distinct and independent causes of action, so that when properly interposed and stated the defendant becomes in respect to the matters pleaded by him, an actor, and there are two simultaneous actions pending between the same parties wherein each is at the same time both a plaintiff and a defendant.' ( Pacific Finance Corp. v. Superior Court (1933) 219 Cal. 179, 182....) ( Id., at pp. 78-79; see also Case v. Kadota Fig Assn. (1950) 35 Cal.2d 596, 603 [220 P.2d 912].) In other instances case and statutory law recognize that a cross-pleading creates an action distinct and separate from an initial pleading. [2] Dismissal of the complaint, for instance, does not affect the independent existence of the cross-complaint or counterclaim. (Code Civ. Proc., § 581, subd. 5; Tomales Bay etc. Corp. v. Superior Court (1950) 35 Cal.2d 389, 395 [217 P.2d 968].) [3] It is further of no significance that the contents of a cross-pleading may allege a transactional counterclaim as defendants contend in this case. Even if this were true Bertero was still compelled to defend against a possible $104,000 judgment and he was potentially subjected to liability for additional attorney fees as well as to the fears and traumas attendant to defendant status. The contention that defendants were compelled to assert their cause of action under threat of being deemed to have waived it is not responsive to the issue. A litigant is never compelled to file a malicious and fabricated action. It is not the assertion of a claim that is actionable but rather the malicious character of the assertion. We likewise are not persuaded by defendants' claim that their cross-pleading was merely defensive and that a penalty should not be imposed for aggressively defending against the charges asserted in a complaint. Defendants invoke a line of cases headed by Eastin v. Bank of Stockton, supra, 66 Cal. 123, in which various courts have refused to recognize a tort of malicious defense. (See Ritter v. Ritter (1943) 381 Ill. 549 [46 N.E. 2d 41] and cases cited therein.) We do not propose to establish such a tort by our holding here. The Eastin-Ritter cases protect the right of a defendant, involuntarily haled into court, to conduct a vigorous defense. By seeking affirmative relief, however, defendants in the instant case did more than attempt to repel Bertero's attack; they took the offensive in attempting to prosecute a cause of action of their own. When such action is prompted by malice and is not based on probable cause, it is actionable as in the case of other affirmative, malicious prosecutions. Defendants also remind us that malicious prosecution is not a tort favored by the law and urge that we not extend its application. ( Babb v. Superior Court, supra, 3 Cal.3d at p. 847; Sebastian v. Crowley (1940) 38 Cal. App.2d 194, 202 [101 P.2d 120].) This convenient phrase should not be employed to defeat a legitimate cause of action. We responded to an argument similar to defendants' over 30 years ago, reasoning, ... we should not be led so astray by the notion of a `disfavored' action as to defeat the established rights of the plaintiff by indirection; for example, by inventing new limitations on the substantive right, which are without support in principle or authority.... ( Jaffe v. Stone (1941) 18 Cal.2d 146, 159 [114 P.2d 335, 135 A.L.R. 775].) Moreover, the disfavored action concept stems from public policy pertaining to the enforcement of the criminal laws. ( Ball v. Rawles (1892) 93 Cal. 222, 228 [28 P. 937].) Public policy, however, does not limit the right to seek redress for the malicious abuse of the judicial process; such abuse cannot be sanctioned either in the assertion of affirmative claims in initiating proceedings or in the affirmative assertion of such claims after the initiation of proceedings. We conclude accordingly that a cause of action for malicious prosecution lies when predicated on a claim for affirmative relief asserted in a cross-pleading even though intimately related to a cause asserted in the complaint.