Opinion ID: 1941581
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Abuse of Process Claim

Text: To establish a claim of abuse of process, a plaintiff must show that a legal proceeding, although set in motion in proper form, becomes perverted to accomplish an ulterior or a wrongful purpose for which it was not designed. Hillside Associates v. Stravato, 642 A.2d 664, 667 (R.I.1994); see also Hoffman, 851 A.2d at 1090; Toste Farm Corp., 798 A.2d at 907; Butera v. Boucher, 798 A.2d 340, 353 (R.I. 2002); Clyne, 740 A.2d at 783. In order to prove abuse of process, a plaintiff must demonstrate: (1) that the defendant instituted proceedings or process against the plaintiff and (2) that the defendant used these proceedings for an ulterior or wrongful purpose that the proceedings were not designed to accomplish. Butera, 798 A.2d at 353. As we have previously stated, the gist of an abuse-of-process claim is the misuse of legal process to obtain an advantage, `not properly involved in the proceeding itself   . [However], even a pure spite motive is not sufficient where process is used only to accomplish the result for which it was created.' Butera, 798 A.2d at 354 (quoting Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts § 121 at 897 (W. Page Keeton 5th ed. 1984)). Other than plaintiffs' unsupported and conclusory allegations in their amended complaint, [17] nothing in the record even suggests that Senator Alves used the initial suit for an ulterior or a wrongful purpose. Accepting all the allegations in the complaint as true and resolving any doubts in favor of plaintiffs, we conclude that plaintiffs would not be entitled to relief under any conceivable set of facts. Accordingly, the motion to dismiss was properly granted with respect to the abuse of process claim.