Opinion ID: 153121
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Plaintiff's state law tort claims

Text: 19 We briefly review plaintiff's pendent state law tort claims. With respect to plaintiff's malicious prosecution and false arrest claims, we conclude the district court properly granted summary judgment to defendants on the grounds that probable cause existed for the arrest warrant and for the grand jury indictment. See Zamora, 747 P.2d at 927. 20 As for plaintiff's abuse of process claim, we note that the exact contours of this claim, as described by plaintiff, are less than clear. In her complaint, plaintiff did not specifically describe the basis for this claim, but simply incorporated by reference all of the alleged wrongful conduct of defendants described at the beginning of her complaint. Although this is obviously sufficient for purposes of notice pleading, plaintiff has failed to offer a more detailed explanation of this claim in her response to defendants' summary judgment motion or in her appellate filings. 21 Objectively reviewing plaintiff's allegations, it is apparent she is challenging the entirety of defendants' conduct, not just specific portions. More specifically, plaintiff is essentially claiming the criminal charges filed against her by the prosecutor, as well as the indictment returned by the grand jury, had no basis and should not have been brought. Although plaintiff has attempted to characterize this claim as an abuse of process, we conclude the claim is more appropriately characterized as one for malicious prosecution. In Westland Development Co. v. Romero, 117 N.M. 292, 871 P.2d 388 (1994), the court distinguished between abuse of process and malicious prosecution, and noted that  'the latter [malicious prosecution] is concerned with maliciously causing process to issue, while the former [abuse of process] is concerned with the improper use of process after it has been issued.'  Id. at 293, 871 P.2d at 389 (quoting Avco Delta Corp. v. Walker, 22 Ohio App.2d 61, 258 N.E.2d 254, 257 (1969)); see also Simon v. Navon, 71 F.3d 9, 15 (1st Cir.1995) (discussing differences between malicious prosecution and abuse of process). Here, plaintiff is alleging malicious use of process, which is the employment of process for its ostensible purpose, but without reasonable or probable cause, and is merely a type of malicious prosecution. Westland, 117 N.M. at 293, 871 P.2d at 389. Even assuming, for purposes of argument, that plaintiff has stated a cause of action for abuse of process, we conclude it was properly dismissed. As noted in our discussion of plaintiff's First Amendment claims, we agree with the district court that plaintiff has presented no evidence of retaliatory motive on the part of either Lasater or Izatt. Appellant's append. 1 at 227. Accordingly, plaintiff cannot satisfy all of the elements of an abuse of process claim under New Mexico law. Westland, 117 N.M. at 293, 871 P.2d at 389 (holding that one of the essential elements of an abuse of process claim is the existence of an ulterior motive).