Opinion ID: 2617624
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Initiation of the Action by the Malicious-Prosecution Defendants

Text: In the five components of the Process there are four separately identified plaintiffs  Laurance B. Wolfberg, Carolyn Wolfberg, Service Business Forms Industries, Inc. and Service Computer Forms Industries, Inc. To combine these components into a single suit requires an inquiry into the relationship of the various plaintiffs, each to the other. Where there is (1) a common claim asserted in the components of the Process [26] and (2) privity of interest or estate between the parties who initiated the suits, [27] the actions can be combined to assert a malicious-prosecution claim. Disparity among the identities in which a malicious-prosecution plaintiff is sued can also be resolved by the same analysis. If there is a privity of interest or estate among the different legal entities by which the malicious-prosecution plaintiff was haled into court, that plaintiff may combine the proceedings as a predicate to allege the delict if the component suits are based upon a common cause of action.