Opinion ID: 1159154
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Evidence of Intentional Interference and Causation

Text: Reviewing the record, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the jury's verdict against the Leigh Corporation for intentional interference with prospective economic relations that caused injury to Isom. There was ample evidence that Isom had business relationships with various customers, suppliers, and potential business associates, and that Leigh, the former owner of the business, understood the value of those relationships. There was also substantial competent evidence that the Corporation, through Leigh, his wife, and his bookkeeper, intentionally interfered with and caused a termination of some of those relationships (actual or potential). Their frequent visits to Isom's store during business hours to confront him, question him, and make demands and inquiries regarding the manner in which he was conducting his business repeatedly interrupted sales activities, caused his customers to comment and complain, and more than once caused a customer to leave the store. Driving away an individual's existing or potential customers is the archetypical injury this cause of action was devised to remedy. E.g., Guillory v. Godfrey, 134 Cal. App.2d 628, 286 P.2d 474 (1955); Tuttle v. Buck, 107 Minn. 145, 119 N.W. 946 (1909); W. Prosser, Handbook of the Law of Torts § 130 (4th ed. 1971); Restatement (Second) of Torts § 766B(a). Other actions by which the Leigh Corporation imposed heavy demands on Isom's time and financial resources to the detriment of his ability to attract and retain customers and conduct the other activities of his business included: numerous letters of complaint, Leigh's demand for an audit of Isom's books and inventory during the busy holiday season, his continued threats to cancel the contract and sell the building and business to another buyer, his refusal to pay the contracted share of the heating bills or the cost of repairing the furnace and the store's broken window, his refusal of the tendered payment of the balance due under the contract, and his suit for repossession, termination, and injunction. Leigh's refusals also prevented Isom from consummating potentially advantageous business associations with Hunter, with Talbot, and finally with Applegate, all experienced retailers able to contribute expertise and additional capital to Isom's business. Taken in isolation, each of the foregoing interferences with Isom's business might be justified as an overly zealous attempt to protect the Corporation's interests under its contract of sale. As such, none would establish the intentional interference element of this tort, though some might give rise to a cause of action for breach of specific provisions in the contract or of the duty of good faith performance which inheres in every contractual relation. Even in small groups, these acts might be explained as merely instances of aggressive or abrasive  though not illegal or tortious  tactics, excesses that occur in contractual and commercial relationships. But in total and in cumulative effect, as a course of action extending over a period of three and one-half years and culminating in the failure of Isom's business, the Leigh Corporation's acts cross the threshold beyond what is incidental and justifiable to what is tortious. The Corporation's acts provide sufficient evidence to establish two of the elements in the definition of this tort: an intentional interference with present or prospective economic relations that caused injury to the plaintiff. Focusing on the issue of causation, the Leigh Corporation argues that Isom's losses resulted from his inadequate working capital or from his unilateral decision to close his store immediately after being served with the complaint and to file for bankruptcy shortly thereafter. These arguments are unavailing because there was substantial evidence of causation to support the jury's verdict. For example, the jury could have found that the initiation of this lawsuit was but another instance of the Corporation's ongoing pattern of harassment, which made it impossible for Isom to continue to operate his business with any anticipation of success or profit. The parties had reached an impasse: Leigh had refused to accept Isom's tender of payment in full and had refused to permit Isom to exercise his option to purchase the building or to associate himself with experienced partners. Upon being served with the complaint, Isom could reasonably have concluded that the Corporation's interference and harassment would continue to thwart his commercial efforts for the foreseeable future. On analogous facts, a California court held in a case involving a seller's malicious interference with his buyer's business that it was reasonable for [the buyer] to have elected to close rather than to continue to accumulate operating expenses without receipts coming in to meet them. Drouet v. Moulton, 245 Cal. App.2d 667, 54 Cal. Rptr. 278, 282 (1966). The evidence was also sufficient to support the verdict under the requirement that the intentional interference with prospective economic relations (in this case, Isom's relations with his customers, suppliers, and potential business associates) must have been for an improper purpose or by the use of improper means. These two alternatives are discussed in the next two sections.